Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau says winning a second straight Super Rugby title with the NSW Waratahs would be even sweeter than last year's drought-breaking maiden championship.
Michael Cheika's high scoring Tahs are the team with a target on their backs and the side being hunted this year, with the new Super Rugby season just three weeks away.
"Getting the first one was sweet but getting it a second time would be much sweeter," Polota-Nau, one of the Waratahs longest serving players, told AAP.
"Because everyone is getting their standards up, just as we are.
"I wouldn't say we are (looking at it as) going back-to-back really.
"If anything, it's more revisiting what we did last year and keeping that consistency and just tweaking it to make it a bit more accurate."
The 29-year-old veteran of 50 Tests was one of several hookers laid low by injury last year, in what seemed to be the Wallabies jinxed position of 2014.
Stephen Moore, Polota-Nau and Nathan Charles were sidelined during the campaign, though the eternally positive Waratahs rake still found a silver lining for Australian rugby in those clouds,
"It was great for the younger chaps to show their wares as well," Polota-Nau said.
"Because if anything, we want to work on the depth of Australian rugby and get it to a point where it's a seamless transition, where if one guy drops due to injury, the guy who is filling in next can get in there and do the job just as good, if not better."
Polota-Nau is fighting back from two injuries that cruelled his international campaign in the second half of last year.
He suffered knee damage in the Super Rugby final win over the Crusaders in August and then sustained an ankle syndesmosis injury the following month in his comeback match, a test against Argentina.
Polota-Nau, who aspires to making his second World Cup squad, has wowed observers at Waratahs training with his pre-season work and hopes to play in one or both of their trials.
"The rehab is coming along well," Polota-Nau said.
"I just need to get some peak fitness into me, because it's a while since I've been on the paddock and you always get the jitters of playing your first game regardless of how many Test and Super caps you have."
Polota-Nau is contracted to Australia and the Waratahs until the end of the 2016 season, but several other Test players have already revealed they will head offshore after this year's World Cup.
Prop Sekope Kepu and halfback Nic White have this week joined a list that already included lock and former captain James Horwill and utility back and 104-Test stalwart, Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Polota-Nau is philosophical about the talent drain overseas, but won't necessarily joIn the exodus once his contract expires.
"I'm not too sure, if anything I'll probably have to address how my body is coping, because I'm not getting any younger," Polota-Nau said.
"It's a business and I think it just comes down to whatever is best for themselves and for their families."
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