The Hurricanes are down, but insist they are far from out as they lick the wounds from their untimely defeat in Cape Town at the weekend.

A week after they hammered the defending champions Bulls, the Hurricanes have slipped out of the Super 14 top four and flanker Jerry Collins has suffered a potentially serious rib injury.

With a game still to play in South Africa and the tussle for the semifinals intensifying, Sunday's 20-12 loss to the Stormers in Cape Town has hit the Hurricanes' playoff hopes hard.

They need to win at least three of their final four games - and perhaps all of them - and collect a few bonus points along the way.

Coach Colin Cooper put a positive spin on life, saying 20 competition points were there for the taking and that the Stormers could have been beaten "but the rub of the green went against us".

Cooper was frustrated the match was reduced to no-push scrums in the 68th minute after the Stormers lost a second prop to injury.

He would not comment on whether it was a ploy by the Stormers, or legitimate injuries, but said it blunted the Hurricanes attack.

"They were able to slow the game down with their golden oldies scrums. I'll let you say [whether that was fair] but we were certainly getting a big edge over them in the scrums."

Cooper was also less than impressed with how Australian referee James Leckie controlled the breakdown, suggesting the Stormers were "favoured" in that key area.

And he rued a rash of errors in the final 10 minutes - many by the experienced core in the side - as the chance for a come-from-behind win, like their one in Cape Town two years ago, was created, and then let slip.

Cooper praised the way the Hurricanes fought back from 20-0 down and felt that when wing Hosea Gear crossed for a try in the 55th minute they were back in the hunt.

They closed the gap further with a try to centre Conrad Smith but a rash of errors late in the match - with the usually reliable skipper Rodney So'oialo dropping the ball twice near the end - blew any hopes of a fairytale finish.

"The errors came at the end of the match because we were under real pressure trying to score points," Cooper said.

"It had been a bit of an arm- wrestle and to come back from 20-0 down over here is never easy, but we just about did it."

The loss means the Hurricanes slump from third to sixth and they next have a pivotal match against the Cheetahs in Kimberley on Sunday.

They have to win to remain in touch with the top four and set up a run to the playoffs with home games against the Lions and Force, then their final round-robin match against the Blues in Auckland.

"There are 20 points left for us to grab and we just have to regroup and stay positive," Cooper said. "The boys are pretty positive. They felt they could have won the game - that we could have snuck in at the end - but we didn't."

One negative from Sunday's match was a recurrence of a rib injury Collins suffered against the Sharks. It forced him from the field soon after halftime.

"He was pretty sore. He's had it for a few weeks and it had gone away but he took a big knock early in the match and was struggling at halftime. He's in doubt for this week."

There's better news for lock Jason Eaton, who missed the Stormers match after he hurt his back in the captain's run at Newlands the day before. Cooper expects Eaton to be fit for Kimberley. The team is to be named on Thursday.