'We got the boat moving again': Waratahs believe they are back on track

With one drought-breaking win, the NSW Waratahs believe they’re back on track to secure a Super Rugby Pacific quarter-finals berth.

Saturday night’s 36-16 bonus-point triumph over the Western Force only elevated the Waratahs one position on the ladder into ninth.

But moving to the cusp of the crucial top eight has done wonders for morale after a deflating run of four consecutive defeats in a series of near misses.

Suddenly the Tahs have reached the halfway point of the regular season with renewed confidence.

Chuffed coach Darren Coleman admitted he had been watching the ladder closely and knew the Tahs’ fortunes would have to turn after enduring a rough draw to start their 2023 campaign.

“We understand you don’t have a straight course to the top and, realistically, when we look back we were only negative-15 going in and we were sixth on the ladder for points for and against, so that shows how many games we have been in,” Coleman said.

“And going into the bye, we’d played (teams) one, two and three in three consecutive weeks.

“That was probably what kept me most buoyant.”

Coleman expects another tough time trying to procure any points out of next Saturday’s round-nine clash at the highly rated Blues.

The Waratahs will train all week without a batch of Wallabies for the visit to Eden Park but Coleman believes his side remains on course for the playoffs.

“We’ve got a really tricky week next week – Auckland away. (They) looked pretty dynamic in their last outing and we’ve got nine blokes away at Wallaby camp,” he said.

“So we’ve got to think through how we do that. It’s not ideal.

“We got the boat moving again and you’d like to keep momentum but … we’ve got a good run home after that.”

The Waratahs have four of their last six games at home – against the Highlanders, Melbourne Rebels, Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika – and play the Queensland Reds and Crusaders away in their last six matches.

Three wins will be enough to clinch a quarter-final spot, maybe even only two.

The Waratahs will be leaning on inspirational skipper Jake Gordon, a surprise omission from Eddie Jones’ first Wallabies squad of this World Cup year, and strike centre Izaia Perese to again lead the way against the Blues.

With two tries and several line breaks, Perese had his best game yet on Saturday night since returning from the patella tendon he ruptured playing for the Wallabies against England last July.

“He’s had a rough trot and he’s a rollercoaster, Izzy, so he’s been down a bit lately,” Coleman said.

“I’m really happy for him because he wore the brunt himself. He put it on himself around not just our team’s form but he wasn’t happy with how he was going. He was pretty heavy-shouldered there for a while.

“But he had a good week this week. I really liked his energy. Thursday he was up being his pesky best and that came through.”