Languishing in the bottom half of the competition standings, the defending champions needed their game controllers to step up. Not for the first time, they did. And by Saturday night Foley wore the satisfied smile of a man who had answered a challenge.

"We knew the task ahead when we arrived here and it was very satisfying to go out and perform the way we said we wanted to, and play a style we were proud of," he said. "We came here with the intention of playing footy to counter what the Hurricanes have been doing. Tonight it worked, last week it didn't, so it's finding that balance of when we can play like that and when we can't. That shows the maturity in the side and going forward that's where we've got to be better, picking and choosing when we can play footy and when we've got to play the percentages."

Each week throws up a different challenge. The Rebels may not have the spine-tingling attacking threat of the Hurricanes, but they have a defensive pattern and ferocious breakdown technique that has the potential to unsettle the Waratahs' attack.

The Brumbies withered in the face of it in Canberra, and it will be up to Foley, Beale and Phipps to find a way over, around or through it on Anzac Day at ANZ Stadium.

"We can't be getting one win and thinking we're going to get eight in a row, like what happened last year," Foley said. "We have to keep putting the things in place. It hasn't worked always, last week [against the Stormers] was the prime example of that, we're still a side that's trying to develop our game and be innovative and keep our attack where it has been. It's not really about where we are in the season, it's about progressing our game in our attack and defence."

There will be selection dilemmas for coach Michael Cheika. Back on home soil, the Waratahs will have at their disposal the talents of destructive winger Taqele Naiyaravoro once again. But after a try-scoring double from his replacement, Peter Betham, the big Fijian could find his path back to the starting side blocked for the time being.

Cheika will also make a call on whether to stick with a forward-heavy bench for the Rebels game, having extracted maximum value from replacements Jacques Potgieter, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Stephen Hoiles, Paddy Ryan, Jeremy Tilse and Mitchell Chapman.

Combined with an abrasive effort from the starting eight, including most notably Dave Dennis, Wycliff Palu and Michael Hooper, the bench's efforts in the second half to close out the Hurricanes' attack helped open up the game again for Foley and the backs in the final 15 minutes.

"The forwards were momentous, they carried really well, did the hard yards and were unrelenting for 80 minutes," Foley said.

The Waratahs have been here before, celebrating after a big win, having answered the critics to topple the Brumbies four rounds back, out-playing the Blues then dropping their bundle against the Stormers.

Foley said there was nothing for it but hard work and a determination to keep a good thing going this time around. There are eight games left, and in a competition where being the favourite means nothing, the Rebels loom as a potential banana skin.

"It's about rocking up on Monday ready to work, we can't get complacent, you can't have that inconsistency that we've shown at the start of the year, having one win and one loss," Foley said. "We've got to continue, get a roll on and put the hard yards in."