Unlike most modern-day coaches, Chris Hickey readily admits he already has one eye firmly on the Super 14 finals heading into the NSW Waratahs' pivotal clash with the Bulls on Saturday night.

The playoffs are still six weeks away, but Hickey has done the maths early and concluded that a fourth straight loss to the Bulls is not in the equation.

The Waratahs are sitting third on the table, four points ahead of the fourth-placed Bulls, but facing an arduous three-game stretch in South Africa to complete the regular season.

Hickey is making no secret of the fact he wants the Tahs travelling to the republic in a comfortable position, even if that increases the pressure on his side for their remaining home games against the Bulls and the Western Force on Saturday week.

"If you look at it over the last three or four years, you would expect probably about 40 points would get you into the top four," Hickey said on Friday.

"And we'd probably like to think that we could head to Africa looking for four or five points only.

"So we need to get out of here with about 35 points on the board. Basically, that means two wins in the next two games.

"Then you got to Africa with the possibility of only needing to win one game to get into the top four. And if you win two and pick up a bonus point, there's a distinct possibility that you could end up hosting a final.

"So you want to take as much pressure off that trip to South Africa and give yourself a realistic chance of hosting a semi-final."

In that sense, Hickey views the Bulls encounter as NSW's biggest of the season thus far.

"The way the competition is unfolding, it's a pretty important game for both teams, perhaps in terms of final standings and perhaps where semi-finals might be played as well," he said.

"At this stage of the game, there's about five scenarios that could eventuate so we're starting to put some preliminary planning into all five scenarios.

"We could be playing a semi in Durban or could be playing one in Pretoria. We could have a semi in New Zealand, could have a home semi-final here. We might be coming home to have a rest.

"So you've got to plan for all those contingencies."

Skipper Phil Waugh says the players need no reminding that "there's a lot on the line" and realises the Waratahs can ill-afford to continue butchering pointscoring opportunities like they have in many of their narrow wins this season.

Against the Stormers last outing, the Tahs bombed three clearcut tryscoring chances and missed five shots at goal, escaping with a 12-6 victory rather than cruising to a 30-point triumph.

"The guys are pretty comfortable with where we're at in terms of our structures of play, but we're only going to get so many opportunities to score points," Waugh said.

"We'll have to convert the field position and the opportunities that we have into points tomorrow night. Otherwise we'll end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

"The Bulls have been travelling well really. They were probably unlucky last week (in a three-point loss to the Crusaders).

"If you look at the back end of the season, they'll be there or thereabouts. So that's why this game is so significant."

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