The Bulls, with several returning Springboks, including flyhalf Handre Pollard, were second best in all departments.
It led to Bulls rugby union president Willem Strauss providing scathing criticism in a broadcast group message, where he said it was “arguably our worst performance since joining the URC. Terrible effort. Not interested and disconnected. We’ve now conceded 14 tries in just three games. We need urgency and intensity asap.”
Ackermann would not be drawn on those comments but played them down. He admits there was “no easy way out”, but said everybody needed to take accountability for the result.
“Obviously there are going to be a lot of people with comments, and that’s fine,” Ackermann said. “But for us, the reality is that families go through tough times. Show me one family that’s perfect, that doesn’t fight or go through difficult moments. It’s the same with a team.
“We’re in a relationship, players, staff, everyone, and we’re in this together. There is no hiding and no easy way out. All we can do is look at ourselves, fix what needs to be fixed and take accountability.
“We can either sit and sulk or we can stand up. As South Africans, we’ve shown many times that we can stand up when it matters.”
The Bulls defeated the Ospreys (53-40) and Leinster (39-31) in their opening two matches of the season, both at home, but even then looked shaky on defence.
“Ultimately, it’s tackle dominance. There are too many times where someone has to cover for someone else, then it’s a ripple effect,” Ackermann said.
“There are a lot of factors I can hide behind because our preparation wasn’t great. We didn’t have numbers, injuries etc. Maybe we were undercooked from a contact point of view and now you try to play catch-up during the season.
“We need to fix it and we have to fix it quickly if we want to concede fewer points. Defence does win you games. We are going to constantly work on that and make sure that from us as coaches to players, we take responsibility to improve that area.”
The Bulls are next in action on Friday when they travel to Irish side Connacht.