A Brumbies-Waratahs quarter-final is the game that NSW want.

Well, coach Darren Coleman certainly wanted it last year, dubbing it a battle to decide the best team in Australia, and the same thoughts will be going through his head now.

He almost got his wish last year, before the Brumbies fell to a surprise loss to Moana Pasifika, knocking them down the ladder and meaning they hosted the Hurricanes in the quarter-finals, not the Waratahs.

But don’t rule it out this year, despite the Waratahs currently sitting second from bottom. There were enough signs in the loss to the Brumbies that they are turning the corner.

They should beat the Force, with a bonus point, on Saturday. Rugby Australia has a decision to make about rugby in Western Australia, because at the moment they are a patchwork quilt of travelling Kiwis, Englishmen and an Argentinian, effectively underfunded to a significant degree because their Wallabies top-ups are a fraction of what the eastern states get. But that’s for another day.

The Waratahs finally have selection continuity, their tight five drew a line in the sand against the Brumbies in terms of what their standards are, and Izaia Perese is due a big game. His exclusion from Eddie Jones’ first Wallabies squad went under the radar, but even though Perese likely saw it coming he would have been stung to see ‘his’ spot go to the 21-year Josh Flook, who probably isn’t quite ready for Test rugby yet.

Perese has, in part, been a victim of the Waratahs’ slow start to the season but he also needs to demand that he gets the ball in his hands. Until that Brumbies game, his side had been guilty of being far too passive.

The Force match is the first of the Waratahs’ eight remaining games, and six of those should be winnable. The schedule is: Force (home), Blues (away), Highlanders (home), Reds (away), Rebels (home), Fijian Drua (home), Crusaders (away), Moana Pasifika (home).