Dave Dennis was the big winner as Dean Mumm's return from suspension shunted Ben Mowen to the NSW Waratahs' bench for their first home Super 14 match.

Wallabies forward Mumm was recalled on Wednesday and will pack down at lock alongside impressive rookie Kane Douglas for the clash with the winless Sharks at Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.

Dennis impressed coach Chris Hickey sufficiently when playing lock in his starting debut in the brave loss to the Bulls last weekend to bump Mowen out of the blindside flanker role.

"It was always going to be a bit of a juggling act to see how Dean would come back into the team," said Hickey.

"It was one of those dilemmas that coaches like to have when a number of players are performing well in their position, and it only adds to the questions when there's players such as Dave and Mummy who can fill more than one role.

"We know Ben will really give us some good punch at the end like he did in the Queensland game, and certainly everyone on the bench has an important role to play for us on Saturday."

Despite back-to-back losses in South Africa, Hickey was reluctant to play around with the line-up too much and he resisted promoting sharp youngster Rob Horne ahead of the steady Tom Carter at outside centre after his impressive effort off the bench in Pretoria.

"We've learned some valuable lessons from the loss to the Bulls and we certainly have a number of things to work on, however we couldn't really fault the commitment of anyone in the team last week," said Hickey.

"Combinations are coming together, and the confidence in different combinations when the bench players come on is really encouraging and that makes for a strong squad from 1 to 22."

NSW Waratahs: Sosene Anesi, Lachie Turner, Tom Carter, Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell, Daniel Halangahu, Luke Burgess, Wycliff Palu, Phil Waugh (capt), Dave Dennis, Kane Douglas, Dean Mumm, Al Baxter, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson. Res: Damien Fitzpatrick, Sekope Kepu, Will Caldwell, Ben Mowen, Josh Holmes, Kurtley Beale, Rob Horne.

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