THE Stormers have wasted little time in engaging the Waratahs in psychological warfare before this weekend’s Super 14 semi-final in Cape Town.

Speaking just after collecting the man-of-the-match award after the Stormer’s defeat of a Bulls second XV on Sunday morning, five-eighth Peter Grant insisted the Waratahs would still bear the scars from their last visit to Newlands.

”We have got the mental edge on them after beating them earlier in the season,” Grant said of the Stormers’ 27-6 victory over NSW in February.

”It’s going to be a good challenge.”

The Waratahs must overcome an in-form Stormers side and the weight of history to qualify for the Super 14 final.

Of the 42 Super rugby finals played, eight teams have won away from home and only four on foreign soil.

Australian sides have lost all six finals matches played overseas, while the Waratahs lost both matches against South Africa’s finalists – the Stormers and Bulls – this season.

The task may be daunting, but Waratahs coach Chris Hickey believes his side is far better equipped to deal with the challenges of playing in South Africa than in the early stages of their 2010 campaign.

”We’re probably quite a different side to what we were then,” Hickey said. ”It was one of those games where we felt afterwards that we probably didn’t turn up with the right attitude to play.

”We probably had a tendency to go into our shell a little bit in the early rounds and that confidence and self-belief only develops through games together, so I’d say we’re much stronger in that regard.”

The Waratahs secured a semi-final berth – the only Australian province to achieve the feat – with their 32-16 victory over the Hurricanes on Friday night, but the Stormers’ win over a Bulls second XV at Newlands snuffed out any hope of a Sydney final.

Within seven hours of the Stormers’ victory, the Waratahs were travelling to South Africa. They will spend the week training in Durban before flying to Cape Town.

The Waratahs’ semi-final appearance will be their fourth in six years, but for 13 of the 22 players selected for Friday’s win over the Hurricanes, the match will represent their first in a Super rugby finals series. Undaunted, Waratahs captain Phil Waugh has expressed supreme confidence in the ability of his Super 14 finals rookies – Drew Mitchell, Berrick Barnes, Ben Mowen, Pat McCutcheon, Kane Douglas, Dan Palmer, Damien Fitzpatrick, Jeremy Tilse, Chris Thomson, Dave Dennis, Josh Holmes and Rory Sidey. ”We have probably been playing [finals football] the last two weeks, to be honest,” Waugh said.

”The most important thing is to not go into our shells; make sure we don’t die wondering.

”We have to go out and play the football we can play when we have no inhibitions.

”You just have to understand how much is on the line.

”There is a lot on the line every week, but the reality is that if you don’t play with that desperation you don’t perform and don’t get a shot next week.

”It is not just another game of football. But the desperation and enthusiasm the guys have shown the last two weeks is a really good preparation.”

Waugh said the Waratahs would not have forgotten the disappointment of their last trip to Cape Town.

”It was similar to the Highlanders performance [where the Waratahs lost 26-10 at Invercargill] in the fact we were slightly off in mentality,” Waugh said.