Respect for the unknown has the NSW Waratahs on guard ahead of Saturday night's Super 14 clash with South Africa's Stormers at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Stormers have a long history of blowing hot and cold and this season have again struggled for consistency, mixing 50-point romps with low-scoring defeats.

The Cape Town franchise has yet to string back-to-back wins together in 2009, but star winger Lote Tuqiri said the second-placed Waratahs would be foolish to underestimate their ninth-placed rivals.

"You never know what you're going to get with them. It depends on how they're feeling," Tuqiri said on Monday.

"They're a bit like the Blues as well at times - they can come out and put 40 or 50 on you. But over the last few years our games have been close.

"We're probably similar to an extent, with how we play in defence and everything else.

"It's going to be the team who turns up and I think we've been turning up this year. We've been quite consistent with that and hopefully we can get over them on Saturday."

In a star-studded backline, Tuqiri nominated Springboks midfielder Jean De Villiers as the key for the Stormers.

"He's probably one of the premier centres in the world. So he'll have to be watched," Tuqiri said.

"In saying that, there might be areas around him as well to target in defence as well.

"But they've got a really slick backline. They've got (Tonderai) Chavhanga and also Percy (Montgomery) as well.

"They're very dangerous."

Waratahs coach Chris Hickey agreed the Stormers' fluctuating form made them a challenging proposition.

"Sometimes teams that are less consistent can be harder to prepare for," he said.

"If you look at their team, they've got plenty of Springboks in there and plenty of players who can play really well. It will depend on how they handle this Australasian leg of their tour.

"They're a difficult team to play against. They're very good defensively and they really don't offer you much at all."

Hickey was hoping NSW's drought-breaking win over the Blues in Auckland last Friday night, which broke a two-game losing sequence, would kick-start a run to the finals.

"It's about getting momentum into the campaign," he said.

"Wins like that does help to build confidence, particularly when you're coming home.

"The good thing about that win is it means we come back now to three home games at the SFS, which means really that our destiny is in our own hands over the next three weeks.

"That's really important to us because we've got to back that up with three weeks in South Africa."

Injured halfback Luke Burgess was unable to train with the Waratahs on Monday but is still expected to be fit to take on the Stormers.

"He's still got a fairly severe cork," Hickey said.

"Hopefully by Thursday he'll be able to join in the team training.

"We're still pretty confident he'll be right for Saturday."

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