Western Province will never disrespect or underestimate any Blue Bulls team, no matter how much their rivals from the north are struggling.

The table-topping WP outfit travel to Pretoria on Saturday for the biggest domestic derby, when they face a Bulls team fresh off their first win of the season.

After having suffer heavy defeats in back-to-back outings in the opening rounds, the Bulls showed some improvement in their 30-25 win over the Eastern Province Kings last week.

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In contrast Province are unbeaten – having started with a 35-16 demolition of the Kings, smashed the Bulls 41-17 (at Newlands) and then last week beat an impressive Lions team 27-14.

Despite the lofty heights they have reached in the early stages of South Africa’s premier domestic competition, WP will be cautiously optimistic about their prospects this week.

“We understand Loftus is always difficult,” Province coach Allister Coetzee told a media briefing.

“We all know how massive these north-south derby matches are.

“The Bulls have received a lot of criticism the last few weeks and that win [over the Kings] was a good in the context of where they are as a team.”

Coetzee said they are under no illusions of how tough it will be in Pretoria.

“We’ll never disrespect any team, especially not the Bulls at Loftus,” he said, adding: “We have looked at a lot of things we need to improve on.

“We haven’t achieved anything yet,” he said of their position at the top of the Currie Cup standings.

“We are happy with where we are and we are happy that we are improving as a team every week.”

The Province mentor said they will be focusing on improving their own standards and not focus on any perceived weaknesses in the Bulls set-up.

“Last week we spoke of discipline and there was a massive improvement – from 18 penalties to eight,” Coetzee said.

“It shows that the players understand the importance to work on our own standards and be driven by our own standards.

“We are under no illusion that this week’s game will be another massive game.

“We have to make sure we are up for it and mentally ready for this one.”