Bulls keen to get jump on mid-table opponents | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

They might both be in mid-table, but the Canterbury Bulls face one of their key matches of the season when they meet Wellington Orcas in the Bartercard Cup at Rugby League Park on Sunday.

The Bulls are fifth in the table and Wellington sixth two points behind, but it is must-win for the home team if they are to keep in contention for the play-offs and break away from the teams below them.

"Every win we can notch up now helps at the end of the season, and especially a home game with Wellington just below us on the table," says coach Brent Stuart.

A 50-30 win over second-placed Tamaki in their last start showed the Bulls can foot it with any team when the attitude is right.

"Wellington are a big, physical side and outside of Auckland they are probably the next hardest to play against," said Stuart.

"We need to beat them to give a bit of a buffer and keep us with the front lot."

Stuart rated the win over Tamaki as a "special effort" and the best performance this season.

"But there were a few negatives," he said. "They scored 30 points that's an area we are working on this week."

The Bulls have had a two-week break since that match, which was unfortunate timing after such a good win.

"When you're on a bit of a roll, you probably don't want a weekend off," said Stuart. "But we had a few injuries, and the ones who did not have niggles played for their clubs." Stuart changed the Bulls' game plan for the Tamaki match to get more width, giving more options and enabling his talented backs room to cut loose.

The Bulls had been cramping on the left and right sides with the style they'd been playing, he said.

Not only his backs benefited second rower Peter Asi, back from Australia this year, was devastating, and loose forward Kyle Leka came off the bench to huge effect.

More of the same on Sunday would cement the Bulls firmly on the heels of the pacesetters and set them up nicely for the rest of the season, while a loss would heap a lot of pressure on them.

Casualties Mike Saunders and Jonny Limmer are both likely to be sidelined for a few weeks yet.