The Waratahs are wary of the Beast and the best South African scrum in the Super 14 rugby competition, as they prepare for Saturday's semi-final showdown with the Sharks.
The Waratahs pack has garnered plenty of praise this season, with their previously maligned scrum also gaining plaudits.
However, Waratahs and Wallaby prop Al Baxter was under no illusions about the task facing the NSW pack at the Sydney Football Stadium this Saturday.
While he said the compliments for the Waratahs' pack were nice he took them with a grain of salt.
He said their form this year was the fruition of plenty of hard work throughout the season.
"But I think this will be the real test this weekend, because these guys I think are the best South African scrum and have been scrummaging really well," Baxter said.
He rated Zimbabwean-born prop Beast Mtawarira as "an excellent front rower" and noted the 22-year-old former flanker "took apart the Chiefs' scrum" last week.
"So it's going to be tough this weekend against the Beast," Baxter said.
"He's very very strong, they've got an excellent pack and an excellent front row and I think he might be the only non-Springbok in their 22 and I think that's because he's Zimbabwean.
"He's playing really well, the rest of the front row is playing really well, it's going to be a challenge both technique and strength."
Baxter said the Waratahs' scrum broke even with the Sharks in their regular season encounter which NSW won 25-10 in Sydney.
The match brings together two of the form No.8s of the competition in the Waratahs' Wycliff Palu and the Sharks' Ryan Kankowski.
"He (Kankowski) is really skilful and really quick, hopefully he's out there in the backs trying to go round them instead of trying to make me look bad," Palu joked.
The Waratahs leading try scorer with five, Palu quipped he had spent too much time out on the wing this season.
He attributed his fantastic form this year to his weight loss and his first injury free season in recent memory.
Waratahs halfback Luke Burgess felt his backline was still to unleash its best form this year and was hoping it would happen this weekend.
"I don't think we've played to our full potential, we've been close a couple of times but it hasn't come together yet," Burgess said.
"The theory is that we just keep concentrating on the basics and hopefully the experience we've gained over the Super 14 season will help us improve."
He said his own combination with five-eighth Kurtley Beale was "coming along slowly" and was wary of the Sharks pair of halves Rory Kockott and Ruan Piennar.
While the Waratahs are concentrating on the semi-final rather than the speculation surrounding the future of coach Ewen McKenzie, Palu suggested he wouldn't mind the NSWRU board reversing its decision to look for a new direction as McKenzie had played a big part in his career and he enjoyed playing under him.
