Waratahs riding late season momentum

Waratahs lock Hugh Sinclair believes a new-found training intensity inspired by Wallabies coach Eddie Jones can help the side make a late-season push.

The Waratahs have won their last three games, their longest winning streak since 2018.

They can confirm a spot in the finals with a win on Saturday over the ninth-place Drua, with Sinclair confident they have put their early season struggles behind him.

“It’s nice to get those wins but also to have the consistent teams, just about 20-odd of the 23 are being named which is nice to get that consistency," he told reporters.

“With a couple more at home to finish the year, it’s been a nice back-end, just to have that routine at home, not too much travel.

“We had some tough opponents at the start of the year as well, we probably weren’t playing the way we wanted and we got punished for that. After the bye, we’ve turned the corner so it’s nice to get a couple of wins to change the dynamic a bit after a tough start.”

This has been built off the back of a dominant second half, conceding just three points in their past two wins over the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels.

Sinclair pointed to the shift in how they have approached the week after coach Darren Coleman interacted with Wallabies counterpart Jones about the need to 'reload quicker' 

“We’ve changed at training a bit a month or two ago, we probably training a bit harder. We want to be faster around our speed of set, up off the deck,” he said.

“DC spoke to Eddie (Jones) about it and he said ‘you guys can get up faster, reload quicker and be faster’ and that’s what we’ve been focusing on.

“I think that’s helping give more options to Donno and Jake (Gordon) so that’s what we’ve been focusing on rather than a simple spray at half-time.

“We’ve just increased the intensity, we’re looking to keep the ball in play for longer, playing fast and just being intense and that’s paying dividends the last couple of weeks in those second halves. It’s pleasing to be coming away in the second halves with some good bench players finishing the game strong."

The Waratahs are looking to continue their unbeaten streak against the Fijian Drua, which was their lone win in their opening six games of the season.