SYDNEY - The Waratahs are rallying around under-fire Berrick Barnes, with coach Chris Hickey predicting the Wallabies playmaker will bounce back from his poor display in last Saturday's Super 14 clash with Western Force.
Barnes, who is playing at centre for New South Wales, has struggled to find his bestform since moving to the Waratahs from Queensland Reds at the start of the season.
And with Queensland's Quade Cooper excelling at five-eighth, Barnes, who returned home injured early from last year's spring tour of Japan and Europe, could be in danger of missing a place in Australia's backline for the Tri Nations campaign.
As well as giving away a try when his wayward pass was intercepted by Scott Staniforth in the 14-10 win over the struggling Force in Perth, Barnes also had problems with the boot, eventually handing over kicking duties to Daniel Halangahu.
However, Hickey said he had no problems with Barnes' performance and praised his defensive duties in nullifying the threat of James O'Connor.
"Berrick has high expectations of himself and other people have high expectations as well, but I think every now and then players are entitled to be a bit off their game," Hickey said yesterday.
Hickey denied he was worried about the midfield combination of Barnes and Tom Carter, who struggled to break through a determined Force defence, in a game that saw neither side produce a single line break in 80 attritional minutes of rugby.
However, he did admit exciting 20-year-old centre Rob Horne was knocking on the door for a starting spot against the Blues at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday night.
"Every time Rob has come on he has done well and now that he has shown he can play 40 minutes without any hamstring injuries he is really on the selection table," he said.
Back rower Ben Mowen, who signed a new one-year deal yesterday, also defended Barnes and said criticism of the Waratahs for a laboured attacking performance against the cellar-dwelling Force was unjustified.
"I think Berrick has been going particularly well for us in his defensive effort ... he made a bit of a blunder with his intercept but that was one error in a reasonably good game for us," said Mowen.
