In-form Bulls keep the faith as they look to topple Stormers in Cape Town

The two historic rivals will meet for yet another North-South derby at the DHL Stadium at 15h30pm.

The Bulls' starting XV remains unchanged from the side that took down Leinster in the final round-robin of the competition. The only changes are on the bench where Simphiwe Matanzima and Nizaam Carr come into the side.

The forward pack remains unchanged, with Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith lining up in the front row as Ruan Vermaak and captain Ruan Nortje provide cover in the second row. Marco van Staden, Cyle Brink and Elrigh Louw will add power in the back row as the pack looks to make good use of their game time together.

At the back, Embrose Papier and Johan Goosen start as the half-back pairing with Canan Moodie (right) and David Kriel (left) on the wings. Harold Vorster and Stedman Gans will combine at centre with Kurt-Lee Arendse at fullback.

After a season of mixed results, the Bulls appear to be hitting their straps at just the right time, ending the season with two big wins, and they have the Stormers firmly in their sights this weekend as they another upset similar to the one that saw them topple Leinster in last year's semi-finals.

The Bulls haven't beaten the Stormers in their last five meetings, but just don't tell head coach Jake White that.

"Ten incumbent Springboks, lost one home game in the last eight months. They must be favourites - they've beaten us five times. If I hear that again, I think I am going to get sick!

"But five times... It's irrelevant. It's absolutely irrelevant how many times they've won before. The players are in the right space. It's knockout rugby now, and a couple of months ago, we had no chance of making the playoffs.

"If I read all the articles, we were doom and gloom. We had, in everyone's eyes, a poor season after ending sixth on the log. Some teams play really well and end up fifth and fourth¦

"So, it's a massive challenge, I am not disputing that. But it's a knockout game now, and one thing we have managed to do over time is to play really well in games that have counted, where we've had to win and knock people out of competitions.

"That's all I can trust myself and the team on - we've got a history of playing really well in those big games. And it's going to be massive: I heard there's going to be 38 000 tickets sold, and we played in that final last year and it was an unbelievable occasion."

Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 David Kriel, 10 Johan Goosen 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.

Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Lionel Mapoe.