The Bulls produced their best performance of the Super Rugby season so far to beat the Blues 38-22 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Having failed to impress in their opening three fixtures, the former champions looked like a much more balanced outfit.
The Bulls dominated the first half, opening up what proved to be a winning lead, but left it late to earn their four-try bonus point with Marcel van der Merwe crossing in the final minute.
The Bulls led 25-12 at the interval having outscored their visitors three tries to none with flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter backing up last week's heroics with another impressive display.
MATCH CENTRE: Follow the scores and stats live from Loftus Versfeld in #Pretoria http://t.co/S4QHBfAI8t #SuperRugby #BULvBLU
— Super Rugby (@SuperRugby) March 8, 2014
But the second half was a far more evenly-contested affair as the rain which has belted Pretoria this week returned and the Blues made a comeback.
Potgieter scored via all four methods (try, conversion, drop goal and penalty) inside the first 20 minutes, but a handful of silly errors allowed the visitors to stay in touch at 13-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The Blues are in the building pic.twitter.com/4f6errRNdt
— The Blues (@BluesRugbyTeam) March 8, 2014
But well-taken tries from number eight Jono Ross and centre Jan Serfontein ensured that the Bulls headed for the changing rooms with a healthy advantage.
The Blues returned to the field with renew vigour in the second half with rookie Pita Ahki scoring after a period of sustained pressure to keep the Kiwi side in the hunt.
The bonus point the Bulls so desperately craved came in the final play of the game however as Van der Merwe muscled his way over.
Awesome win tonight!! Blessed to share the field with these champs! pic.twitter.com/c2n7f06Euy
— Jacques Engelbrecht (@Vleis8) March 8, 2014
