'We've finally got some great depth coming off the bench'

The NSW Waratahs believe their second-half rampage against Fijian Drua shows their progress as a Super Rugby Pacific force.

Breaking a 10-10 halftime deadlock in their AAMI Park clash in Super Round last Saturday, the Waratahs piled on five second-half tries for a 46-17 victory.

Ahead of their round three clash on Friday with the Rebels, also in Melbourne, hooker Dave Porecki said the performance had shored up the belief in the team following their round one loss to the Brumbies.

“We stuck in the fight and then sort of blew out in the second half (which) is great for the squad,” Porecki said on Tuesday.

“We’ve finally got some great depth coming off the bench that added some punch, so we finished strongly.”

The Wallabies rake felt the way their team handled the pressure and then took the game up a gear boded well for coming games against Kiwi opponents.

“When you play New Zealand teams, they’re typically probably better in the last 30 minutes of games, so you sort of stay with them and then they blow out games,” he said.

“If we can keep practising staying in the fight and taking it to another gear in that last section of the game, it’s massive when we start playing these top teams.

“The Fiji game could have gone either way but we managed to take our game to another gear, which ended up being a good result.”

The Rebels fell by six points to the unbeaten Hurricanes, which was their second tight loss after also losing to the Western Force in week one.

But Porecki predicted a tight battle, particularly up front, with Melbourne boasting a number of Test forwards.

“They’re coming off a pretty good performance against the Hurricanes and it’s going to be difficult going down there at their home and taking it to them but we’re looking to keep building,” the 30-year-old said.

“They’ve got some serious threats around the ball and a decent forwards coach in Geoff (Parling) so if they get those penalties they will kick you into a corner and maul you and get some more penalties.

“We need to be fresh and ready to go because they’re going to be up for it.”

– Melissa Woods