The embarrassment of last week’s 48-14 Super Rugby loss to the Bulls in Pretoria means the Hurricanes aren’t lacking in motivation as they approach a must-win match against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein early on Saturday (NZT).

“It was probably our worst performance of the year in terms of execution, in terms of sticking to the game and our discipline,” assistant coach Alama Ieremia said from South Africa on Thursday.

“There were certain areas we were pretty embarrassed about.”

After losing 18-16 to the Stormers the week before, the 11th-placed Hurricanes desperately need a win to have any chance of making the play-offs.

They’ll have to do it without skipper Conrad Smith, sidelined with concussion, but Ieremia has no doubts his team can step up.

“Losing that amount of experience is a bit of a blow, but we’re pretty confident with the leadership we have and we’ve addressed that in terms of the voices that need to be heard around the team.”

Cheetahs coach Nana Drotske says attacking the visitors’ pack is key to stalling their back division, and the Cheetahs will be looking to target the Hurricanes at scrum time and with the rolling maul.

Ieremia says the Hurricanes are well prepared for that.

“It’s an obvious area to attack us, but of all the South African teams, their strength is moving the ball around so we’ve got to make sure we cope with that.”

Counties Manukau speedster Reynold Lee-Lo will replace Smith at centre, his familiarity with inside centre Tim Bateman a key factor in the decision.

There had been some thought given to playing wing Alapati Leiua at centre, Ieremia said, especially considering his experience in the position.

“But if we’d done that there would probably be a few changes in the backline. This combination of Rey with Timmy, who’ve played together before, is probably a lot more settled in terms of preparation.”

Ieremia says the return of Ben May at tighthead prop, and recall of flanker Faifili Levave for the hard-working Brad Shields, will also add a physical edge as the Hurricanes look to right the defensive lapses which plagued their game last week.

“We’ve looked at addressing those areas of our game, and tidying it up, and hopefully that leads into our defensive work and we can improve in that area as well,” he said.