Stormers captain Jean de Villiers says his team is ready to pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat — an upset win over the fancied Waratahs in their Super 14 showdown in Sydney on Saturday.

The under-performing Stormers, one of the pre-season favourites, are currently 10th on the competition table with just two wins in six starts — while the Waratahs are fresh from their historic first-ever win over the Blues in Auckland last week, a result that saw them move into second place on the standings.

With a host of world class players in the team — like Springboks Conrad Jantjes, De Villiers, and chalk Burger, not to forget the likes of Fijian Sireli Naqelevuki, Peter Grant, Andries Bekker and Schalk Brits — much was expected from the Cape Town-based outfit.

However, they have failed to live up to their pre-season billing and apart from wins over two lowly teams — the Reds and Lions — they have produced a series of mediocre results.

In fact last week's 7-11 loss to an equally disappointing Crusaders team in a dour match in Christchurch was the epitome of their season.

However, De Villiers says his team will have a "few tricks" up their sleeves on attack when they go up against the 'Tahs on Saturday.

De Villiers said the Stormers had something special planned for Saturday "We certainly hope to improve on attack," he told the Independent group newspapers.

"And with this week's selection it should give us more confidence. We are used to each other in this configuration and possess enough talent to do better than we have up to now," he said of the rejigged backline.

The backline changes have Springbok fullback Conrad Jantjes back in the Stormers No.15 jersey, veteran Wylie Human slotting in at wing in place of Gcobani Bobo.

Bobo moves to outside centre, De Villiers moves one position in to play at No.12 and Peter Grant moves to flyhalf at the expense of Willem de Waal.

De Villiers admitted that it is still up to the players to perform on the day.

"We must execute better. We have worked hard on that this week in training and will have a few tricks and new moves up our sleeves."

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