Ever since it dawned on them that they were in the Super 14 semi-finals the Bulls have been in crisis.
First it was the crisis of the judicial hearings, then the crisis of the medical reports, now the crisis of selection in the midfield.
Let's hope the Crusaders are listening: helloooo - this is meant for you blokes from New Zealand - the Bulls are in crisis!
The important thing, as you know, in the build-up to a knockout match is to keep your opponents fully informed at all times. It is vital for them to know the full extent of your troubles so that they can start writing you off as soon as possible.
This transparency is a basic courtesy of the kind that distinguishes us South Africans. We would hate to be accused of doing anything underhand.
Strangely enough the Crusaders have been awfully quiet this week, not a squeak from them by the time of going to press. They have been in Johannesburg since Monday evening, quietly minding their own business.
It is surprising, however, that they have not yet sent out a single message of distress. Look, even if you don't have a crisis in the week leading up to a knockout match, you jolly well invent one. You can't let your opponents have the field of wailing and woe all to themselves.
Yet Todd Blackadder, their nice coach, said on Wednesday everything was hunky-dory in the camp and that they were recovering well from their long flight.
Even Mr Bean could have told Blackadder that this was a chance gone a-begging. What the coach should have said was that certain key players were still in a bad way after suffering serious air sickness, that one of the tall fellows got his legs trapped between two rows of seats in economy class and that, upon arrival at the super-efficient OR Tambo International, they had to extricate him through the roof of the plane with the help of a large crane.
Now, those kind of tales are impressive.
Still, maybe a Crusaders' crisis will emerge on Thursday when they announce their team. If nothing else, they could remind us that match-winner Daniel Carter is injured and that they doubt they can make further progress without him.
In so saying, they will hope that the Bulls have forgotten that Dan has been out of action all season.
It's been a long season, of course, so it's worth a try... anything to lull your opponents into a sense of complacency.
There is, of course, another possibility. This is that the Crusaders are keeping their excuses for after the match on Saturday. After all, it's an old ploy of New Zealand teams to announce a crisis once it's too late.
In 1995, remember, we had no clue that half the All Blacks had been poisoned by a malevolent waitress until after the Boks had beaten them in the World Cup final.