SYDNEY - Preventing turnovers will be a prime consideration for the Waratahs when they take on the Hurricanes at the Sydney Football Stadium tonight.
New South Wales, who had a bye last weekend, are looking to build on the 30-25 upset over competition high-flyers the ACT Brumbies at the same venuea fortnight ago.
Lying in mid-table, they need to win their last three matches and pick up a bonus point or two along the way to have a chance of making the playoffs.
Waratahs coach Ian Kennedy said retaining possession would be a key tactic against the Hurricanes and their dangerous back three of fullback Christian Cullen, if fit, and wingers Tana Umaga and Jonah Lomu.
"We have to use the ball we get to put them under territorial and defensive pressure and we also have to avoid turnovers.
"Turnovers are costly against a team like the Hurricanes. Cullen is just waiting for a sniff of the ball when the defence is disorganised.
"That's what he and the wingers live off and are so good at, and that's what we really have to focus on - when we've got the ball, we can't make mistakes."
The Waratahs will also look to reproduce the aggressive defence and confidence to move the ball wide that they showed against the Brumbies.
Kennedy was unsure whether the Waratahs would be able to match the Brumbies' feat of starving the Hurricanes of possession by not kicking, as the ACT did in their outstanding 47-28 victory last weekend.
"They've got the personnel and skills in some positions that we don't have and I don't know if we have the ability to go through a game without kicking to relieve pressure."
Kennedy has chosen an unchanged lineup from the one that downed the Brumbies.