Queensland Reds captain Shannon Parry is expecting the Waratahs to bounce back following their first defeat of Super W, which injured Waratah Mahalia Murphy labelling it as a 'wake up' call they needed.
The defending champions were defeated by Fijiana Drua, ending their 20-game winning streak that began at the beginning of the competition.
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This ensures the Drua's place in the Final, with Saturday's clash between the Reds and Waratahs at Eric Tweedale Oval to determine who hosts the semi-final.
Parry was expecting the hosts to recover from their 'speed bump', taking plenty of confidence from the Reds' dominant victory over the Rebels.
“That was a speed bump for the Waratahs but I have no doubt they’ll bounce back this week,” Parry told Rugby.com.au.
“We’re heading down this week with a really tough challenge on our hands Saturday.
“For us, the focus remains on ourselves, we like to keep that focus on our own game and do our roles for the team. Hopefully, if we can do that, we’ll get the results for our team.
“I think for us (last Saturday) was a really big moment for Women’s Rugby with the Capping Project finalised and it was the final jigsaw piece for Queensland Rugby so to get a win over Melbourne was very pleasing.
“I think the first half we were slow but I was pleased with the second half performance. For us, it was a really building moment for this week’s game against the Waratahs.”
As for the Waratahs, they will once again be without Mahalia Murphy, who failed to overcome a hamstring injury.
Murphy believes the Drua defeat was a timely wake-up call for a side that has dominated Super W, maintaining their focus on the Reds.
“It’s tough to take a loss but I think our team really needed that after being so dominant the last four seasons,” Murphy admitted.
“We needed a challenging team to come along and make us really work and give us a little reality check. We’ve got to keep grinding and putting in the work.
“I think really needed that so we’ll work on that for the next couple of weeks but we have Queensland this week so that’s our focus.
“We want to give it our all each game so I think we’re going to start and finish strong, review that and then go on with the next game and fix up what we need to fix up.”
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