Victor Matfield has tackled his way to 100 Super Rugby caps © Getty Images

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Matches: Bulls 19 - 18 Hurricanes

Players/Officials: Victor Matfield | Piri Weepu

Tournaments/Tours: Super 14

Teams: Bulls | Hurricanes

The out-of-form Hurricanes visit the table-topping Bulls in Pretoria on Friday with an upset firmly in their sights.

Our Game of the Week features a team, in the Bulls, at the peak of their Super 14 powers against one in the 'Canes who seem to have put some Kryptonite down their socks. The Bulls, despite having played one game less than their rivals, are heading the ladder after four bonus-point victories.

The Hurricanes, after an impressive win away to the Blues and dominating bonus point victories over the Force and the Lions at home, left their form at the airport for their trip to South Africa, where losses to the Cheetahs and the Stormers have sent them tumbling down to eighth.

Coach Colin Cooper would probably have been targeting somewhere between five and ten points from their overseas sojourn, but now they must produce one of the performances of the season just to stay with the rampaging Bulls and get on the board at all.

The Bulls have amassed 199 points so far, just shy of 50-per-game, and have not lost at their intimidating Loftus Versfeld home since April 2008. The 'Canes may hope that omens are on their side, since it was them who conquered the Bulls on that occasion.

The defending champions have made just one change from their 50-35 triumph over the Highlanders, with Deon Stegmann coming back into the pack for Derick Kuun, who reverts to the bench, while Bees Roux joins Kuun among the replacements at the expense of Rossouw de Klerk after recovering from a head gash.

Captain Victor Matfield will make his 100th Super Rugby appearance, which have all come for the Bulls bar eight previous caps for the Cats.

"We don't play for caps, we play to win trophies," Matfield said of his pending achievement. "Of course it is nice for me, but the bigger picture is what the Bulls must do to stay undefeated. All the teams are improving week by week, so we need to improve as well.

"People say the Stormers softened them up for us, I believe they made them angry. They will be very desperate for a win and they are still one of the best sides in this competition. If they can pull off a win on the road, it will be huge for them. We need to focus on this week and be 100 percent ready for what they are going to throw at us. We will be up for the game and we know if we play our game, we will do well."

The match is the last at home for the Bulls before embarking on a month-long tour of Australasia, and they'll be focused on continuing their run while enjoying home comforts. With few disruptions to their line-up, there should be more all-out-attack rugby on the way.

In contrast to the stable Bulls, Cooper has rung the changes in hope of improvement before his side returns for back to back games in Wellington. Veteran scrum-half Piri Weepu headlines the cut-list, which also features flanker Scott Waldrom, lock Bryn Evans, winger David Smith and prop Jacob Ellison. Their starting places go respectively to Tyson Keats, Karl Lowe, Jeremy Thrush, Alapati Leiua and John Schwalger.

One player in reasonable form was fullback Cory Jane, but he has returned home early after suffering a head knock in the 37-13 loss to the Stormers. Andre Taylor takes his place. The Hurricanes have little to lose in the match, and Cooper cryptically hinted that his changes lay somewhere on the plain between sending rockets up his senior players and giving others opportunities while the pressure is off.

"The game plan going into the Bulls is good for Keats," Cooper said. "He's performed pretty good on and off the field and we have the experience of Piri coming on late in the game. You can take out of that what you think. I guess you've got to send messages and hopefully we'll get good results from the guys who come off the bench."

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

Replacements: Bandise Maku, Bees Roux, Flip van der Merwe, Derick Kuün, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Pedrie Wannenburg.

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

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