Waratahs coach Chris Hickey has admitted that they will have to make dramatic improvements on their upcoming tour of South Africa after a patchy performance against the Reds in the first round.
The Waratahs trailed for most of the match but scored two late tries and snatched an unconvincing 30-28 victory over arch rivals the Queensland Reds/
This weekend however they face a promising Stormers team in Cape Town before heading to Pretoria to take on the defending champion Bulls in Round 3.
Effectively the Waratahs composure in the heat of battle won the day but Hickey Hickey was blunt in his assessment of the overall performance.
"There are lots of areas of our performance on Saturday night that the players and the coaching staff weren't satisfied with and we don't kid ourselves that it was a faultless performance at all," Hickey told Sky.
"A glaring area was our kick-off receipt and that was really significant in keeping Queensland in the game in the second half."
"We also turned the ball over in contact many times and our lineout accuracy wasn't as good as it needs to be."
"Quite often they're things that you'll find in the first game of the season so there's plenty to work on but we also take a lot of confidence out of the character shown by the team and our match control in the last 10 minutes to win the game was excellent."
Hickey's squad will be tested with the loss of blindside flanker Dean Mumm (suspension) and the absence of New Zealand born lock Cam Jowitt who has bone bruising of the ankle.
To bring in cover Hickey has included South African Hendrik Roodt and new Wallaby tourist Dave Dennis in a 26-man touring party. Youngster Kane Douglas is also in the running to join Will Caldwell in the second row for the Stormers clash.
Hickey has however confirmed Ben Mowen is almost certain to replace Mumm on the side of the scrum and that he is confident Jowitt's injury is not as serious as first feared.
"We scanned him yesterday evening and they think it's just deep bone bruising, so the medical staff is reasonably confident that when we get back from South Africa he should be pretty much right for selection," he said.
Outside centre Rob Horne who missed the Reds clash with a hamstring injury has flown with the squad on Monday but remains a 50-50 chance to make his return this weekend.
"We're just going to have to see, we thought it was important that we take him away with us and we'll make that decision as we move through," he said.
"If he's not right for the Stormers then perhaps he may be better prepared for the Bulls game, but that's something we'll assess during the week."
Hickey will have to formulate his game plan against the Stormers only once he arrives in Cape Town as he said that he had not yet managed to see the Stormers match which featured off-season signings Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie.
"I haven't seen there game against the Lions at this point in time but I understand they were quite dominant."
"They've almost been one of the under achievers of South African rugby for quite a few years, so it's quite a challenge ahead of us going to Cape Town and then it doesn't get any easier going up to Pretoria for the Bulls."
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