The Western Force have vowed not to put up the white flag, but stand-in skipper Sam Wykes admits the team needs to improve their discipline if they are to get back into the finals race.

The Force slumped to their fifth straight defeat over the weekend when a last-minute penalty from sharpshooter Handre Pollard lifted the Bulls to a 25-24 win in Pretoria.

At 1-5, the Force’s finals hopes are on life support.

But with six of their remaining 10 games to be played at home, the Force aren’t giving up hope of making a late charge up the table.

The Force were the superior team against the Bulls, running in three tries to one in their gutsiest performance of the season.

But a penalty count that read 22-10 against the Force proved to be their undoing.

At one point, the Force were reduced to 13 men after Adam Coleman and Tetera Faulkner were sinbinned.

“There were some silly penalties,” Wykes said ahead of this weekend’s clash with the Sharks in Durban.

“It definitely wasn’t the last penalty of the game that cost us, it was right through the game where our discipline let us down.

“We’ll learn from it, because we can’t make the same mistakes this week, especially with the kicker they’ve got at the Sharks (Patrick Lambie).

“On a positive, we played some really good footy. Some of the boys had their best game of the season.”

Coleman, Luke Morahan, and Kyle Godwin were superb against the Bulls, with the Force creating plenty of line-breaks – even when they were reduced to 13 men.

The Force are already eight points adrift of sixth spot, but Wykes said they remained desperate to stay in the finals hunt.

“We’re playing as if we’re going to be there. We’ll never drop our chin or not play for the pride in that jersey,” Wykes said.

“There’s still plenty of footy to play. We’ve got loyal fans, and we’ve got boys keen to put on a good performance every week.”

The fifth-placed Sharks will be without hooker Bismarck du Plessis, who has been handed a four-match ban for kicking an opponent in the head.

But Francois Steyn is free to line up for the Sharks after being cleared of dangerous play in his team’s 12-11 win over the Chiefs.