The Blue Bulls are likely to become a more efficient machine as they head into the Currie Cup play-offs, according to defence coach John McFarland.

McFarland, at the heart of the Bulls' Super 14 successes in 2007 and this year, admitted that the men from Pretoria has had some "soft moments" that cost them.

However, he is confident the Bulls will be back to their best in the semifinals.

Having already secured their place in the play-offs, and their final league encounter against the lowly Leopards of academic value only, the Bulls can use the trip to Rustenburg on Friday to start building for the semifinals.

As the Springboks continue to filter back into the team, their 61-27 thrashing of the Griquas last week gave a hint of what can be expected of the team in the weeks to come.

As always it takes a game or two for the national team players to be fully integrated into the domestic set-up, but now the men from Pretoria are expecting to give a much improved performance in the weeks to come.

"The most important thing is that we must look at the big picture and take into consideration that the players have played a pressure game every weekend since March," the defence coach, McFarland, said on the Bulls' website.

"We've been through the Super 14, 10 or eleven guys have been involved in the British and Irish Lions series as well as Tri-Nations tournament and the Currie Cup has been severely contested over the course of the last couple of weeks.

"With that in mind it was really pleasing that we managed to score more than 60 points against the Griquas.

"There were obviously a few 'soft' moments which was the result of lapses in concentration, but believe me, we will be ready for the play offs.

"I am very proud of what we have achieved this far and we are all very motivated and excited about the next couple of weeks."

Backline coach Pieter Rossouw backed his fellow assistant, saying that he also expects the Bulls to lift the bar in the weeks to come.

"I was fairly satisfied with the way the backs played ? we made a couple of line breaks and it was good to get some speed on the ball. I think our counter attacking was quite good and on the whole the team played much better than against the Free State."

This is a view supported by kicking coach Vlok Cilliers and team manager Wynie Strydom.

"It was great that we stayed on track for the semi's and it was good to see that we have made a huge improvement in the areas of our game that weren't up to scratch against the Free State," Cilliers said.

"The Boks did really well and if I had to single out individuals I would say Danie Rossouw, Wynand Olivier and Morne Steyn were outstanding."

Strydom spoke of having achieved the first goal of qualify for the play offs.

"We also wanted to gather some momentum and I think we played much better than against the Cheetahs," Strydom added.

"We have made huge improvements in the way we played together as a team and it was nice to see that the Springboks were firing on all cylinders."