Matfield: Derby or not, we play to win

Tomorrow at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls take on the Stormers.

Bulls vs Stormers

Derbies add extra spark in the Super 15, and none grab the fans' attention more than South Africa's North versus South encounters.

Tomorrow at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls take on the Stormers.

But Bulls veteran Victor Matfield played down any suggestion that the exchange between the two rivals would be fiercer than usual .

"A lot of these local derbies are more about the fans getting to have a go at each other. For the players, we want to win this competition, so every week is huge and we need to be up [at our best] every week," said Matfield.

"We can't be up for it more for the Stormers than for the Crusaders, then we'll get a hiding from the Crusaders.

"For the fans there's normally a lot of banter, and the media like to build this North versus South thing up, but as players we have a job to do - we need to go out there and win this game."

While the Stormers are still fighting to avoid the wooden spoon, the Bulls remain adamant that they are still within a sniff of a Super 15 play-off spot. There is a lot to play for.

Brumbies vs Sharks

Burly loose-forward Fotu Auelua, who flourished under Jake White's short but influential stay at the Brumbies, is back to haunt his old mentor. The Samoan, who is the only change from the Brumbies' 40-20 drubbing by the Crusaders last week, will make his first start of the season when the Sharks visit Canberra tomorrow morning.

In last year's 29-10 humbling of the Sharks in Durban, Auelua's acute deftness with ball in hand - which belied his 120kg frame - caused defensive havoc, creating two of the four first-half Brumbies' tries.

Former Sharks and now Eastern Province Kings lock Steven Sykes said Auelua's influence can be easily countered if the Sharks rock up with the required physicality and isolate the strong ball carrier.

Highlanders vs Lions

No more soft moments.

That is Lions coach Johan Ackermann's impassioned plea to his side ahead of their match against the Highlanders in Dunedin tomorrow.

Those lapses, Ackermann insists, could have seen his team add to their tally of four wins in this season's Super 15 and he has good reason to demand a sustained effort from his side this week.

The Highlanders' energy levels are usually down in the week following a trip to South Africa, as two wins from 10 matches in the last decade suggest.

"I guess it will be a challenge for the Highlanders.

"We cannot, however, afford to have those soft moments because you immediately undo all your good work," the coach said.

"We will have to play with sustained intensity and make sure we don't slack off for five minutes as we have done in other matches.

"If we can play with intensity, hopefully the travel fatigue will catch up with them and they can add to their poor record."

A key element he wants to see improve this week is his team's decision-making, but one of the chief blind-alley operators in their defeat against the Chiefs, Marnitz Boshoff, has been restored to flyhalf after being deployed as substitute fullback last week.

"It's pure rotation but it is always difficult when you have an in-form player and a Springbok competing for a place," Ackermann said of Boshoff's elevation and Elton Jantjies's drop to the bench.

"It is perhaps unfair on Elton because collectively we didn't play well last week."