NSW Waratahs are rallying around under-fire Berrick Barnes, with coach Chris Hickey predicting the Wallabies' playmaker will bounce back from his poor display in last Saturday's Super 14 clash with Western Force.

Barnes, who is playing at centre for NSW, has struggled to find his best form since moving to the Waratahs from Queensland Reds at the start of the season.

And with Queensland's Quade Cooper excelling at five-eighth, Barnes, who returned home injured early from last year's spring tour of Japan and Europe, could be in danger of missing a place in Australia's backline for the Tri Nations campaign.

As well as giving away a try when his wayward pass was intercepted by Scott Staniforth in the 14-10 win over the struggling Force in Perth, Barnes also had problems with the boot, eventually handing over kicking duties to Daniel Halangahu.

However, Hickey said he had no problems with Barnes' performance and praised his defensive duties in nullifying the threat of James O'Connor.

"Berrick has high expectations of himself and other people have high expectations as well, but I think every now and then players are entitled to be a bit off their game," Hickey said on Monday.

"I think that was the case with him on Saturday, but I think it is important not to overlook the whole game. O'Connor was a real threat to us and Berrick contained him for the whole game."

Hickey denied he is worried about the midfield combination of Barnes and Tom Carter, who struggled to break through a determined Force defence, in a game that saw neither side produce a single line break in 80 attritional minutes of rugby.

However, he did admit exciting 20-year-old centre Rob Horne was knocking on the door for a starting spot in the side against the Blues at the SFS on Saturday night.

"Every time Rob has come on he has done well and now that he has shown he can play 40 minutes without any hamstring injuries, he is really on the selection table," he said.

"He has a lot of strength in his game, he is a natural 13 and some of those skills will involve our back three as well."

Backrower Ben Mowen, who signed a new one-year deal on Monday, also defended Barnes and said criticism of the Waratahs for a laboured attacking performance against the cellar-dwelling Force was unjustified.

"The Force came out all guns blazing and had a big shift in attitude because they played like a team that hadn't lost a game all year," Mowen said.

"But the way we stuck to our defensive patterns meant it was a very important win over there.

"I think Berrick has been going particularly well for us in his defensive effort ... he made a bit of a blunder with his intercept but that was one error in a reasonably good game for us.

"It is very unfair to criticise us for our attacking display against the Force as it is not giving them as much credit for their massive defensive performance as they deserve."

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