The Sunwolves blew a golden opportunity to pick up their first Super Rugby win of the season, losing 34-21 to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Friday night.
The hosts were forced to play for half the game with 14 men after former Toyota Verblitz flanker Renaldo Bothma was shown a red card for a high tackle on Ed Quirk.
But the South African side (1-2) overcame its numerical disadvantage to dominate the second half.
The Sunwolves fell to 0-4.
"We came here to play and we did," Quirk said. "But our execution and a few penalties let us down and we needed to capitalize on that red card."