An unhappy Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has admitted that his team were poor in their 25-17 Super Rugby opening loss to the Bulls.

"It is early in the season and we know now where we are as a team…it is just the mistakes and you can't make that many mistakes in a rugby game," Coetzee said.

"It has that snowball effect and you don't get into the game at all and you don't give yourself opportunity to play."

Stormers captain Jean de Villiers echoed Coetzee's sentiments and said the team was flat in the first half where they gave away "too many stupid penalties within kickable range".

"It is a massive wakeup call for us and it just shows the difference between Currie Cup and Super Rugby," De Villiers said.

"It is step-up and we didn't make that step today, it is only the first week of the competition but we need to improve from here.

"Last year we managed to take points from every single game we played and this time around we didn't even get a point tonight, it is definitely a couple of steps backwards."