The defending champion Bulls set down an early defensive marker in their only Super 14 pre-season outing, when they beat the Lions with both their teams in Polokwane last Saturday.

It was not so much the 42-12 (first-choice selection) and 25-3 (fringe players) scorelines, but more the quality of their defence that has pleased the coaching staff.

Echoing the sentiments of head coach Frans Ludeke, defence mentor John McFarland admitted that it was a positive start to the year for the two-time Super Rugby champions.

"It was our first game under the revised breakdown laws," McFarland told iafrica.com, adding: "We were also learning as we were going along and seeing stuff that we have been working on in pre-season. I felt we coped with it quite well."

However, what pleased the Belfast-born McFarland most was the defensive effort on the day.

"We went for three halves of rugby [in the two games] without conceding a try," he said in reference to the first game in which a very young Bulls team outscored their rivals by three tries to none and the main game that saw the Bulls concede two late second-half tries - going for more than 120 minutes of rugby without the Lions breaching their defence.

"Defensively it was quite pleasing the way we started and the way that the senior players adapted to the law change, adapted to the way that the referees interpreted the breakdown.

"We were pleased we didn't concede many penalties," McFarland told this website.

He said they have not change anything in their defensive structure, but are just working hard on improving an already effective game plan.

"We are just continuing to build on what you have done before," he said, when asked about their defensive performance.

"You don't try and reinvent the wheel.

"A lot of the guys have been here for a long time, you just want to do everything a little bit better.

"We try to make a one percent improvement in a lot of areas and if we do that, it will all add up to a lot in the end."

While the Bulls' frontline selection conceded two tries, there was plenty of encouraging signs in the earlier game, in which a very young Bulls team kept a far more experienced Lions team tryless.

"What pleases most is that the team that played in the first game is a very, very young side," the defence coach told iafrica.com.

"There were a number of 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds and 21-year-olds in that team and to come through a game against the Lions as they did, without conceding a try, is wonderful.

"The whole backline, with the exception of [fullback] Tiger [Mangweni], were Under-21 players.

"We are really pleased with how they did, considering that the team they played against featured a lot of players who were in the starting XV for the Lions in the latter stages of Currie Cup last year."

McFarland said that despite the positive start, the Bulls are not going to ease off ahead of their opening match in the Super 14 season - when they face the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on February 12.

The Bulls will continue to train through till Wednesday morning, take a short break, and they'll come back on Monday to step up the build-up towards the Cheetahs encounter.

McFarland said the Bulls will again employ their week-by-week approach, which has served them so well in the past.

"We never look beyond that, only at who is in front of us that week.

"Every game is a one-game season to us," he said, adding that they will continue work on their "basics and fundamentals".

On the injury front the news is also very positive for the Bulls.

Of the 10-or-so frontline players that sat out the trial against the Lions, several have resumed training with the Pretoria franchise and should be in the selection frame for the Cheetahs encounter.

World class No.8 Pierre Spies is the one key player that remains on the doubtful list, as he struggles to overcome a hamstring strain.

However, the encouraging form of Pedrie Wannenburg on the Polokwane outing will ensure the Bulls have adequate coverage at the back of the scrum.

World Cup-winners Wynand Olivier and Danie Rossouw have made good progress on the road back from injury and have both resumed training, while young Francois Hougaard is also still doubtful.

Those who are not going to be back in time for the trip to Bloemfontein, or will be out beyond that, include Bakkies Botha, Dewald Potgieter, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Akona Ndungane.