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After being beaten by the Hurricanes in Wellington a month ago, Waratahs coach Michael Cheika reckoned the finals were out of reach. Not any more.
Since then, the Waratahs have beaten the defending champion Chiefs and flogged the Kings 72-10 (with 11 tries to one) to sit eighth on the table with a sniff of a finals spot.
The Australian conference reads Brumbies 41 points, Reds 39, Waratahs 30, Rebels 22, and the Force 18.
With the Rebels and Force out of the picture, there are two telling facts:
Firstly, The Waratahs have played 10 games compared to the Brumbies and the Reds who have both played 11. Secondly, the Tahs have to play both the Brumbies and Reds in the run home, as well as the Crusaders.
That makes it possible to be involved where it counts, providing the Waratahs win every one of their last six games.
They can finish with 54 points and that would be enough to qualify.
Lack of bonus points have proved costly to the men in blue. They have picked up just two, from the one point loss to the Cheetahs and another for their 11 tries last week.
Of the 15 teams in the tournament, the Waratahs and Highlanders are on two bonus points, the Kings one, right at the bottom of the table.
Whereas the Rebels have six bonus points, the Brumbies five, the Force four, and the Reds three.
But the Brumbies have been hot and cold of late, with a 28-all draw against the Kings, a 30-19 win over the Highlanders, a 19-all draw with the Reds, wiped the Force 41-7, and lost to the Crusaders 30-23.
The Reds haven’t been too convincing either, with a 31-23 win over the Chiefs, that 19-all draw with the Brumbies, fell over line 12-11 on penalties against the Blues, and drew 11-all with the Force.
The momentum right now is with the Waratahs, and there’s no reason why they can’t kick on positively from here, starting with the Stormers on Saturday night.
The Waratahs will have their hands full with two towering locks in Andries Bekker at 208cm, or 6 feet 10, and Eben Etzebeth at 204cm, or a tick over 6 feet 8.
Huge.
But Cheika has all departments firing at the moment, their confidence is high, and they are feeling more comfortable with ball in hand.
At last they are a pleasure to watch, and while Israel Folau has played a major role in that area, he has also been an inspiration to the likes of Rob Horne and newly-promoted winger Cam Campbell, who has plenty of toe.
The telling factor on Saturday night will be the crowd.
How many will be there? Will they crack 20,000 for the first time this season, and for some time?
That will be the litmus test for the reborn Waratahs, who deserve to be saluted in the best way possible – in numbers.
Time for the hibernating Tah fans to surface.