Spotlight on Bulls duo

Blue Bulls halfbacks Dustin Jinka and Francois Brummer hold the key to success against Western Province at Newlands in a round three Currie Cup match.

The traditional north-south derby will introduce several new faces as senior players are committed to Springbok duty in Wellington and Rustenburg but the intensity should live up to the great tradition of these games.

Jinka and Brummer caught the eye during the Bulls' 33-30 win over the Cheetahs last week with their snappy movement and clever tactical play.

Brummer also contributed 18 points with the boot and is starting to emerge as a player with the ability to make a permanent step up to Super rugby in 2012.

WP have Dewaldt Duvenage at scrumhalf and the seasoned Super rugby campaigner will certainly do his best to unsettle Jinka. But the latter is a special talent and will give as good as he gets from his experienced opponent.

As always it will come down to which pack is on the front foot. The Bulls' eight were superb against the Cheetahs, while WP's pack gave a workmanlike performance against the Leopards in Potchefstroom after struggling in round one against Griquas.

In Durban the Sharks host the Cheetahs in the pick of the weekend's action. The Cheetahs need to bounce back after last week's loss while the Sharks have been working hard to rectify the mistakes they made in their narrow 23-22 win over the Pumas last week.

"The Cheetahs bring a lot of width to their game, but can also be blunt up the middle of the field," Sharks coach John Plumtree said.

"Defensively you always have to be on the money against the Cheetahs. That's something we really focused on at Monday's training session.

"When we got a bit stressed against the Pumas, we got into some bad habits. Hopefully when the pressure comes on this weekend, everyone understands what their jobs are and we'll be able to keep them out."

Tonight the Pumas host Griquas in Nelspruit. In the weekend's other match John Mitchell's Golden Lions come up against the Leopards at Ellis Park tomorrow.