Waratahs earn an intimidating edge Israel Folau, centre, celebrates with teammates after the Waratahs beat the Stormers. MICHAEL Hooper believes the NSW Waratahs now have an "intimidation factor" as they make a late surge towards the Super Rugby playoffs. Since their round nine bye, the Waratahs have won three of their four games, including a hard-fought 21-15 victory over the Stormers in Sydney on Saturday night. With five games to play before the end of the regular season they are eighth on the table with 34 points, just two behind the sixth-placed Crusaders. NSW is not only within striking distance of a wildcard playoff spot, but could still finish on top of the Australian conference. Significantly, the Waratahs play the top-of-the-table Brumbies and second-placed Queensland Reds on their run home. "Over the last couple of weeks we've built up a bit of an intimidation factor," Hooper said. We knocked the Chiefs off. We've done the Stormers. That makes teams think we are going to be hard competition. We are definitely not out of sight. We are winning games and we want to keep on that roll. The Waratahs' win over the Stormers has set up a huge clash with the Brumbies at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night. The Brumbies thrashed the Waratahs 35-6 in Canberra in round four but NSW is a very different team now. "We were poor that night," Hooper said. I guess there is a lot of added motivation for us to put in a better showing and really back up these last few wins we've got. We want to knock these guys off. They have been the top team all year. It's always a big game between the Tahs and the Brums. One of the highlights of the game will be Hooper's head-to-head meeting with veteran Brumbies openside flanker George Smith. Hooper and Smith, pending his availability, are competing for the Wallabies' No 7 jersey for the coming British and Irish Lions series. With Australia's No 1 openside David Pocock out for the year with a knee injury, Australia coach Robbie Deans is expected to start the more experienced Smith. But Hooper has been in superb form for NSW and a strong performance against Smith could influence Deans' thinking. Hooper admitted the clash had "massive" implications for Test selection. "Regardless of that fact, you want to test yourself against the best and George is up there," he said. It's exciting to play against these sorts of people. First of all, I'm looking forward to the challenge and secondly you want players to be picked on form. The Hooper-Smith match-up will be among a number of gold jersey duels. Rival captains Dave Dennis (Waratahs) and Ben Mowen (Brumbies) are competing for the blindside flanker position.