The Waratahs have kept the faith with the squad that recorded a scratchy win in their last Super 14 start, naming an unchanged 22 for the round five clash with the Lions at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday night.

The Waratahs returned from South Africa last week to record a win in their first home game of the season, and will be aiming to move to a positive win-loss record with a victory over the Johannesburg-based franchise.

The `Tahs hardly set the world on fire with their 25-21 over the Sharks last week but coach Chris Hickey said the side would lift their attacking game against a Lions side that likes to throw the ball around.

"We copped a scare against the Lions at Ellis Park last year and they certainly showed against the Chiefs in round two that they have a lot of points in them," said Hickey of the Lions, who lost that Super 14 match 72-65 to the New Zealanders in the highest ever scoring match of the competition.

"That said, we're going into this match confident of a strong attacking performance and we're hoping to give the crowd at the SFS a great showing on Friday night."

Hickey said the squad would be looking to move up a gear from last weekend's victory with the comfort of not having to endure a week of travel.

"Effectively, we've spent seven weeks on the road when you include our pre-season in Lismore, Orange and Canberra, then starting the tournament in Brisbane, Cape Town, Pretoria and a long trip back to Sydney," he said.

"While we were happy to get away with the win against the Sharks, we know there are a number of areas we need to improve this weekend.

"We've shown glimpses of our potential at times this season, but as a group we know we need to cut out the errors in execution, make good decisions on the run and put it together for a full 80 minutes.

"While we took advantage of the opportunities we had at the start of the Bulls game, we didn't do that last week and we need to improve in that area from the first whistle."

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

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