Injured Waratahs hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau appears on course to be fit for a mighty forwards showdown with the Sharks in Saturday's Super rugby clash at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Wallabies rake suffered a hamstring injury against the Bulls in Pretoria last Saturday and went for scans on Monday night shortly after returning from South Africa.

NSW coach Chris Hickey said Polota-Nau would be assessed again on Thursday but the Waratahs medical staff were confident of further improvement before then and that the hooker would start on Saturday.

"He had scans done last night and they showed there's no significant tears in the hamstring and there's a little bit of irritation, so that's a pretty good result," Hickey told reporters.

Hickey was confident his Wallabies prop Benn Robinson, who suffered a shoulder knock last weekend, would also be right to play on Saturday after taking it "a little bit easy early in the week".

Prop Al Baxter, the other member of the Waratahs regular starting front row, expected to face a great personal and collective challenge against a star-studded Sharks pack.

While the South African side have lost their first three matches, they boast one of the strongest set of forwards in the competition.

"They have got essentially pretty much a whole Springbok pack, it's going to be tough," Baxter told reporters on Tuesday.

Baxter will pack down directly against famed Springbok prop Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira.

"It's going to be a tough day in the office for me," Baxter said.

"This is one of the great challenges of the year, he's one of the form props and took the Lions pack apart last year, so he's a very dangerous player and a tough opponent."

Mtawarira is something of a silent assassin on the field, according to Baxter.

"He's pretty quiet, but it's like Benn Robinson, who doesn't say much either ... he still takes guys apart."

Baxter was puzzled by the Sharks unexpectedly poor start to the season, which has comprised of losses at home to the Chiefs and Cheetahs and the Crusaders in Christchurch.

"I don't know, I guess it's one of those things where sometimes a team of champions isn't a champion team," Baxter said.

"I guess it's one of those things when playing these guys, because they have so much depth and so many great players, you are hoping it doesn't all click for them when you play them.

"I think they are very dangerous because of what they do have and if they do click, then they will be one of the form sides."

Hickey stressed playing at home for the first time this season didn't guarantee a Waratahs victory, especially given the Sharks desperate situation.

"That probably means they will target this game to get their campaign back on track," Hickey said.

"The fact they lost their first three games, if you look at those games, probably with twenty minutes to go they were winning them."

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