Coach Michael Cheika would love to have the comfort of knowing his side is on a slow boil to peak in the Super Rugby finals when the Waratahs may still have something up their sleeve.
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"The theory is there but I don't think it ever works like that," Cheika said on Monday.
While the Waratahs sit second on the Australian conference and one point behind the Brumbies, who they beat for the second time this year last Friday, they know that the sooner they find their optimal game the better – even against the last-placed Western Force, who they pay in Perth on Saturday.
The Waratahs gained a massive psychological boost from beating the Brumbies 13-10 in Canberra last Friday night – not to mention the value of four competition points. But Cheika and his players know too well how much of a danger the Force can still pose with their fast-moving defence and ability to force errors and feed off them.
It worked for the Force against the Waratahs in Perth last year when they won 28-16, and again in round one this season in Sydney, in what was the Force's first and last victory from 11 games. Cheika's memory of this year's season-opening 13-25 loss has certainly not been swiped clean by his side's turn about of results since then and which currently leaves them with a 7-3 win-loss ratio.
"It hurts because we didn't get the four points. We didn't get a point full stop," said Cheika, adding that based on his observation of their games as the Wallabies coach, the Force are still a big danger. "The season has not gone as they want it at this stage, but I have been watching their game really closely for other reasons. They have been a little unlucky in some games. They have been extremely close in lot of games. They missed Hodgson [until April 24 with a hamstring injury] ... I think from a leadership view ... and they have had a few [other] injuries. We know they will be good on the ground. We know that they will work hard and they will work hard in defence as well.
"They will put numbers in the line and defend at all cost and they will do it well."
Waratahs captain Dave Dennis believes the Force are a danger because of their losing streak. "That's the biggest threat … they are hungry," Dennis said. "They cannot be more hungry. They are definitely not a team or club that would say, 'We will pack up shop, the season is over' … They are a team that go the other way and say, 'Hey, let's try and win the last five or six games and give a bit of credibility to the season'."
Dennis believes the Waratahs are yet to produce their "perfect performance", and that their win against the Brumbies still exposed areas where they must work on for Saturday's game. "We got the win which was nice," Dennis said of last Friday's Brumbies win. "But again, it wasn't the best we can play. It was a very fierce contest … nice and physical, both teams defended very well. They slowed our ball down well.
"[David Pocock] did well to disrupt our ball at the ruck which didn't allow us to get go-forward. I spoke to the group after and said we are still searching for that perfect performance. [Against the] Brumbies in Sydney, Hurricanes in Wellington [it] was there and thereabouts. But we still haven't played that really good game we know we are capable of. And we are playing a team [the Force, on Saturday] we have lost to the last two times – over there last year and in the first round this year."
