NSW captain Dave Dennis has placed the Waratahs on notice and coach Michael Cheika is backing his chastened Super Rugby champions to deliver against the Sharks on Saturday night.
A shock loss to the lowly Western Force has left the Waratahs precariously positioned in seventh spot on the ladder with five rounds remaining.
Sitting in second spot in the hotly contested Australian conference, the Waratahs' title defence is on a knife edge as they prepare to host the Sharks at Allianz Stadium, then the Crusaders before jetting off for two testing encounters in South Africa against the Lions and Cheetahs.
"Obviously it's a tough run home," Dennis said on Friday.
"We've still got a trip to go on as well, so we've got to really start hitting our straps.
"We've got a good opportunity on Saturday. We tend to bounce back quite well after poor results and we're going to have to.
"We can't perform like we did last week."
Last year's clash with the Sharks in Durban was memorable for Cheika being fined and placed on a six-month suspended ban for abusing a cameraman in a 32-10 mauling.
Cheika, though, prefers to remember the match somewhat as a turning point in the Waratahs' watershed season.
He says the Sharks taught the Waratahs toughness and, a year on, the titleholders are bracing for another torrid test which Cheika believes his side will this time pass to showcase their championship credentials.
"Coming around to playing them again, we know what's confronting us," Cheika said.
"They're massive units and they're going to be coming to get us, so we've got to be ready for a massive battle and we will be."
The Waratahs will be without their most aggressive forward in Jacques Potgieter.
But Cheika doesn't see the South African's injury as a negative, insisting Stephen Hoiles' skills in attack balances the back row and suits the Waratahs' game plan to be more creative against the Sharks.
"Stephen Hoiles is definitely not Jacques Potgieter, but he brings totally different set of skills as well which I really I like," he said.
"He's definitely stronger in the lineout. He's also a bit of a ball player himself, can carry too.
"Even though he's not a mountain of a man, he's got good footwork and a hit spin.
"He's got different manoeuvres to stay alive in the contact and he's always delivered in every game since he's been back in for us since last year."
The Waratahs have struggled to convince the critics in a rollercoaster campaign, but Cheika noted his side's 7-4 win-loss record is identical to what it was at the same point in 2014.
"Teams have been coming at us harder and we haven't been playing as well, but we've still got our own destiny in our hands for (finals) qualification," he said.
"So we are fighting through it and I'm a big believer in our lads.
"This is the natural progression. There seems to be an expectation that everything continues in the same order and that's definitely not the case.
"That means teams that didn't make the finals last year have got no chance of making it this year.
"Everyone's battling for the same prize and you wouldn't want to be in the contest if it wasn't like that."
Share
