In the most inconsequential north-south Super Rugby derby yet, the Stormers got a decent workout ahead of Saturday's home quarterfinal against the Chiefs.
They have defensive issues. They fell off tackles far too easily and their breakdown needs attention.
The Chiefs play on the fringes of the law and the hosts have the added baggage of having to learn how to win a home play-off.
New Zealand sides have taken turns to wipe the floor with the Stormers at Newlands, the Chiefs caning the hosts 60-21.
The Stormers may have beaten the Chiefs in a league game this season but a play-off is a different kettle of fish.
Small backs and all who tend to fall off tacklers against their New Zealand counterparts, the Stormers will pose a counterattacking danger the Chiefs may struggle to deal with. The Bulls suffered an 11th defeat and fifth home loss from eight matches.
In the six first-half tries tackling was optional, handling was exemplary and accuracy on point. For Jason Jenkins's eighth-minute try, the Bulls went coast-to-coast with Duncan Matthews the spark at the back.
Cheslin Kolbe's riposte two minutes later was a reprisal of Ananias Mathe slipping through the Pretoria C-Max bars, stepping past four would-be tacklers and evading two more in a confined space on his way to the line. Four minutes later, Sikhumbuzo Notshe scored one of the easier tries before tries from Matthews (19th minute) and Jesse Kriel (29th) gave the Bulls a nine-point buffer.
Matthews' slick offload for Kriel's touchdown was probably the game's best sleight-of-hand moment but the Stormers roared back into the lead on the back of a Dillyn Leyds 34th-minute try and Damian Willemse's penalty a minute before.
The early part of the second half saw more structure but less accuracy. With the Bulls scrum being manhandled, the Stormers had a platform to put away their bitter rivals but made heavy weather of it.
Steven Kitshoff's try was disallowed due to it being inconclusive, but Siya Kolisi's even greyer 53rd-minute try was given.
At the time, the Bulls were also down to 14 after tighthead prop Conraad van Vuuren was sin-binned for a high tackle on Leyds.
Further tries were scored by Willemse (64th), Piet van Zyl (65th) and Kriel (69th) as the game lost all semblance of structure and control.
Willemse's bad 73rd-minute penalty miss should have given the Stormers the flutters, along with a succession of bad lineouts in the Bulls 22.
But the Bulls' inability to make those opportunities count summed up their season, along with the multitude of errors that led to Seabelo Senatla's 79th-minute try that ended the game as a contest.
