Time for Canes to buck up or face a thrashing

BY TOBY ROBSON

It's not quite Custer's last stand, but Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper may feel as though the wagons are circling around Loftus Versfeld tomorrow morning.

After a bright start to the Super 14, the Hurricanes are suddenly at long odds to get close to the unbeaten Bulls and are staring down the barrel of a potential thumping in Johannesburg.

Though his team is stacked with All Blacks and was vaunted pre-season, Cooper has been forced to take drastic action after back-to-back losses to the Cheetahs and Stormers saw the side slide back to the middle of the points table.

In the six changes to his starting side he has relegated halfback Piri Weepu and dropped openside flanker Scott Waldrom amid less-than-subtle rhetoric about the recent performances of his senior players.

It will not be the losses, but rather the nature of them, that will be of most concern to Cooper as he searches for a spark.

Key players have slipped back to old habits. Ma'a Nonu has been petulant, Weepu guilty of departing from the game plan.

First-fives Willie Ripia and Aaron Cruden have not kicked their team into the opposition's half and locks have looked to run with the ball when they would be better served cleaning out rucks.

"I think we've just got to trust what we're trying to do and keep hold of the ball and not give too much ball away, which is really frustrating," Cooper said yesterday.

"It was frustrating to sit in the stand and see how much ball we gave to them [Stormers].

"Once we've started to play and we've kept hold of the ball and been more disciplined [it's been better] ... Our discipline hasn't been good enough ... We certainly know we've got a job to do this week."

A tougher one the Hurricanes would struggle to find. The Bulls have broken the 50-point barrier in three of their four matches this season and have not been beaten at home since 2008.

It is why coach Frans Ludeke has made just one change to the side that beat the Highlanders 50-25 last week, with flanker Deon Stegmann coming back into the side.

First-five Morne Steyn has had the ball on a string this season, with both his passing and kicking game, and inside him Fourie du Preez has set the bar at halfback.

No8 Pierre Spies and lock/flanker Danie Rossouw have been in menacing form, while Wynand Olivier has been breaking the line with regularity at centre.

Add to that, lock Victor Matfield's continued dominance of the lineout, and the Bulls are the competition leaders for good reason.

So where do the Hurricanes start?

If the Bulls have a weak point it is their defence.

They have been opened up by the counter-attack, especially from broken play and especially later in matches.

New Hurricanes halfback Tyson Keats' brief will be to service his backline, leave the tactical decisions to Ripia, and to look to exploit holes behind the ruck.

The Bulls forwards create potential weak points by standing in the midfield on defence and Weepu, Cruden and wing David Smith must spot the mismatches in the second half.

The Hurricanes will also need to put blockers in place to shield young fullback Andre Taylor and their wings from the weekly aerial bombardment from Steyn and Du Preez.

Cooper explained some of his selections yesterday, saying prop Jacob Ellison was "unlucky", Karl Lowe deemed more physical than Waldrom at openside, and Smith "hot" on attack, but "cold" on defence.

He believes the changes have added an edge to the camp and that his side is primed to respond to its critics.

If the Hurricanes don't, the wagons won't hold the rampaging Bulls for long.

HOW THEY LINE UP

What: Hurricanes v Bulls Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

TV: Sky Sport 1, 6.10am tomorrow

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)

TAB odds: Bulls $1.08, Hurricanes $7.00

Hurricanes: Andre Taylor, Tamati Ellison, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Alapeti Leiua, Willie Ripia, Tyson Keats, Rodney So'oialo, Karl Lowe, Victor Vito, Michael Paterson, Jeremy Thrush, Neemia Tialata, Andrew Hore (captain), John Schwalger.

Reserves: Dane Coles, Jacob Ellison, Bryn Evans, Nick Crosswell, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, David Smith.

Bulls: Zane Kirchner, Gerhard van den Heever, Stephan Dippenaar, Wynand Olivier, Francois Hougaard, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez; Gurthro Steenkamp, Gary Botha, Werner Kruger, Danie Rossouw, Victor Matfield (captain), Deon Stegmann, Dewald Potgieter, Pierre Spies.

Reserves: Bandise Maku, Bees Roux/Rossouw de Klerk, Flip van der Merwe, Derick Kuun, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Pedrie Wannenburg.

- © Fairfax NZ News