Waratahs coach Chris Hickey has leapt to the defence of star recruit Berrick Barnes amid strong criticism over his performance in Saturday's lucky escape against the Western Force.
The Wallabies vice-captain, who had been solid rather than spectacular in his first five appearances for his new province since defecting from the Reds, endured a rare off night in Perth.
His problems began with a couple of uncharacteristic misses with the boot before the 23-year-old threw the intercept pass that led to the Force's only try of the night.
But while willing to concede Barnes was below his best in attack in what was an unattractive slugfest, he insists the former Queenslander still made a strong contribution to the cause.
"I think a player like Berrick has got high expectations of himself and obviously other people have high expectations as well," Hickey said.
"Every now and then I think every player's entitled to be a little bit off his game and that was probably the case in terms of his attack on Saturday night, but it's important not to overlook the total game and his defence on Saturday night was really significant."
"We felt James O'Connor was probably the biggest threat to us and he contained him throughout the whole night."
"His kicking game's been really strong up until Saturday night, he missed a couple of shots there but that's just the lot if you're a goal kicker, you're never going to kick 100 percent."
Barnes began the season at flyhalf but has since been shifted to inside-centre after Kurtley Beale was dropped to the bench allowing Daniel Halangahu to come into the side at No.10.
Asked if the midfield combination of Daniel Halangahu, Barnes and Tom Carter is becoming a concern after the Waratahs failed to generate a single line break in 80 minutes of rugby in Perth, a defiant Hickey called for patience.
"These things take time," he said.
"Combinations of players playing together just takes time and we're confident that midfield combination is developing."
"It might not always be three steps forward, three steps forward. Sometimes you take three steps forward, one step back ... but we're happy with the direction it's moving in."
But Hickey gave his strongest indication yet that boom outside centre Rob Horne will finally be unleashed in the starting line-up against the dangerous Blues on Saturday, after biding his time on the bench following a hat-trick of hamstring injuries.
"Every time Rob's come on he's performed really well and he's had a graduated return," he said.
"Now that he's showed that he can play 40 minutes and he has no hamstring injuries as a result of that, he then becomes really on the selection table."
The coach is also confident key forwards Wycliff Palu (hamstring) and Al Baxter (calf) will be available for selection after both were ruled out on the eve of last weekend's match.