Waratahs back Berrick Barnes is finally riding the up escalator in the form department, but reckons he still has some way to go to catch some of his rivals for the hotly contested Wallabies inside back spots.

After starting the season slowly with his new team, Barnes has shown an encouraging lift in performance for the Waratahs over the last couple of weeks.

Firmly entrenched at inside centre in the Wallabies backline last year, Barnes was reportedly poised to swap places with five-eighth Matt Giteau on the spring tour where he was made vice-captain but injury forced him home before he could play a match.

With Queensland's Quade Cooper the form five-eighth of the competition and Giteau considered an automatic Test selection if fit, Barnes faces a battle to regain a starting spot.

The Waratahs prize recruit attributed his improving form of late to the developing combination with fellow Waratahs Luke Burgess, Daniel Halangahu and Rob Horne, but said his form still wasn't "where I would like it to be."

"To be fair, Quade Cooper is probably in the best form of his life and he and (Queensland halfback and captain) Will Genia are leading the Reds pretty damn well.

"Obviously (Force utility back) James O'Connor has been a shining light for the Force too this year.

"It's what (Wallabies coach) Robbie (Deans) wants to go with.

"You've just got to bring your best form to the table, I'm endeavouring to find that and they are doing it."

Renowned as a hard marker of himself, Barnes did at least admit his form was improving at the right time of the year.

"You don't want to be going the other way, you don't want to be on the escalator going down," Barnes said.

NSW returned to training on Thursday after taking a break in the early part of their bye week.

Waratahs coach Chris Hickey was slightly more optimistic about the fitness prospects of injured front-rowers Benn Robinson (forearm) and Tatafu Polota-Nau (shoulder).

"We're really going to have to assess them this time next week," Hickey told reporters.

"There is some hope that the injuries are not quite as bad as initially thought and they seem to be making some recovery."

Hickey said he had to weigh up rushing Robinson and Polota-Nau back for the crucial April 24 clash with the Brumbies against the Waratahs' needs for the remainder of the season.

Barnes was full of praise for his former team Queensland, who will leapfrog the Waratahs and move into the top four if they defeat the ladder leading Bulls in Brisbane on Saturday.

"Their whole turn around this year has been amazing," Barnes said.

"It's a credit to probably Quade Cooper and Will Genia, in particular what (Reds coach) Ewen (McKenzie) has done there with the pack."

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