Pulman failed to defend his title, losing 18–25 to the eventual champion John Spencer in the first round. He reached the final in 1970 but lost 33–37 to Ray Reardon, having earlier recovered from 14–27 to 33–34. In 1971 he failed to qualify from the round-robin stages that determined the semi-finalists, and in 1972 he lost 23–31 to eventual champion Alex Higgins in the quarter-finals. Pulman did not reach as far as the quarter-finals at the world championship until 1977, the first time the event was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Pulman reached the semi-finals with wins over Fred Davis and Graham Miles before losing 16–18 to Spencer, the eventual winner. After 1977, he did not win any further world championship matches. He reached the final of the 1977 Pontins Professional event, where he also lost to Spencer, 5–7. After snooker world rankings were introduced in 1976, Pulman achieved his highest placing of seventh in the &lt;a href="Snooker%20world%20rankings%201977/1978"&gt;1977/1978&lt;/a&gt; list.