Australian rugby's forgotten man, Josh Holmes, is set for a big-stage chance to reinvigorate his stagnant career after the Waratahs' injury crisis worsened ahead of their elimination play-off.

Holmes is expected to start his first match of another disappointing and quiet Super Rugby season in Friday night's clash with the Blues at Eden Park after halfback Luke Burgess became the latest NSW star to join the Waratahs' long casualty list.

Burgess fractured his hand at training on Tuesday and while he still travelled to Auckland among the 24-man squad he was unsurprisingly ruled out on Wednesday.

It is just another huge blow the Waratahs must weather in a season of misfortune which sees fellow starting XV players Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Wycliff Palu, Ben Mowen, Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell, Rob Horne and Daniel Halangahu all currently sidelined.

Holmes, 24, was anointed as the next Nick Farr-Jones and a Wallabies future star five years ago when he was a stand-out for the triumphant Australian team at the world under-19 titles in Dubai.

But the tall and powerful half, who debuted for the Waratahs at 18, has never been able to cut it at senior level, switching to the Brumbies in 2008 in search of more game time.

After two fruitless seasons in Canberra he returned to NSW last season, where he was again a regular bench player behind Test back-up Burgess.

This year Holmes slipped even further into obscurity with Queensland product Brendan McKibbin originally getting the jump on him for the back-up spot and the Waratahs searching to recruit an outsider to replace Burgess.

Even though NSW coach Chris Hickey was playing his cards close to his chest by holding off on naming his team until match eve, makeshift five-eighth Kurtley Beale let it slip on Wednesday that Holmes was favoured to start.

Hickey backed Holmes to step up if given the chance and praised him for never losing sight of his ambitions.

"At age group level, at 19s and 21s, he was a very promising player, (but) careers unfortunately don't always keep going up - there's plateaus and some times there's valleys," he said.

"The thing with a player like Josh is that he's remained focused and has worked hard and he's really well-prepared for this opportunity when it comes to him.

"He'll relish being out there on Saturday night."

NSW have used 38 players this season and Hickey argued the Australian franchises needed to heed "commonsense" and review the ARU decision to reduce squads to 30 next season.

But his battered team's ability to finish fifth on the table with their injury dramas has him confident of a stunning upset full of character at Eden Park.

"It's far from ideal," he said. "It does make it tough but this is a resilient team, we've had to fight hard over the last month just to get here.

"It's in these situations that you find out about the tenacity and mental toughness of a team."

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