After their opening round loss to the Sharks last week the Blue Bulls are looking for a vast improvement in the execution of their skills when they take on the Cheetahs in Pretoria this weekend.

Captain Gary Botha felt that his team failed to apply themselves when the heat was on at Kings Park last week, a mistake they cannot afford to make against the Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

He said: "It was a lapse in concentration as the structures are in place and at the end of the day it is all about executing. We saw in the first round what happens if you lose that concentration for a few seconds and quality teams would penalise you for that."

New Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar explained that the team has spent time working on their set phases this week after struggling in that area of the game against the Sharks.

"I felt that our struggles at the set phases were down to timing issues and it is something we need to fix. It will improve as we spend more time together and I think it will be better by this weekend," he said.

Pienaar is determined that his team raise the level of their play in front of an expectant home crowd this weekend when they face a Cheetahs team that will be hungry to add to their convincing win over the Leopard last week.

"It is our first home game ]against the Cheetahs] and it is important to us as a side to we do well this coming weekend," said Pienaar.