It's Sydney or the bush for Ewen McKenzie at the end of the 2008 Super season. The Waratahs coach has been told by the assertive new CEO of NSW Rugby, Jim L'Estrange, that nothing less than a finals berth will be good enough for him to keep his job.

McKenzie, a genial and thoughtful coach, inherited a perennially underperforming franchise. The first Waratahs coach, Chris Hawkins, looked promising in the first year of Super rugby but was shafted by an in-house coup after which the inept Matt Williams took his position.

When pressure was being exerted behind the scenes and in the media for him to be removed, Williams would telephone reporters saying that he had a three-year plan to save the Waratahs. "The Waratahs have been a great state side since 1882," I remember telling him, "and they've only needed a one-year plan since 1882."

McKenzie became Waratahs coach in 2004. The next year, he guided the side to the finals, the first and only time this has happened. However, the Cheetahs, from South Africa, and the Western Force (both recent additions to the tournament) are the only teams who have not played in Super rugby finals. This fact underlines how poor the Waratahs' performances have been over the years.

In 2007, it was back to the abysmal, with an annus horribilis in which the Waratahs lost six of their seven home games.

In the press box before Saturday night's season opener against the Hurricanes, there was much gallows humour about the chances of the Waratahs redeeming themselves as far as their loyal supporters were concerned, and saving the career of their coach. As it happened, the Waratahs totally outplayed their fancied opponents in every facet of the game and chalked up a convincing victory.

Two words explain their turnaround in form: Kurtley Beale.

It has been a truism since 1996 that a team cannot become the Super champions without an excellent five-eighth. Up to this year, the Waratahs have not possessed an excellent five-eighth.

In 1996, whoever selected the original Waratahs squad (probably the late Greg Smith) failed to include the Randwick maestro David Knox. Rod Macqueen then went on to build a successful ACT Brumbies franchise around the play-making skills of Knox. If he had been playing for the Waratahs, Knox might well have taken them to several finals.

A couple of years ago, the ABC televised a Joey's-Riverview GPS rugby match. About 10 minutes in, my telephone rang. "How good is he!" son No.1 shouted out to me.

"He" was Kurtley Beale, then a year 10 student at St Joseph's College. He made a couple of breaks, chipped and regathered, popped up some magical passes and spiraled out other long balls, forcing runners into gaps in the manner of Stephen Larkham. It was clear we were watching the most talented rugby player to emerge in Australia since David Campese and Mark Ella in the 1980s.

Last year, in his first season with the Waratahs, Beale over-played his game too much. He tried to do something whenever he had the ball, rather like a playmaker in rugby league.

The six-tackle rule in league puts the onus on the five-eighth to make plays within every sequence. In rugby, the playmaker can take a longer view. Think of league as jazz, with the playmaker being the lead soloist. And think of rugby as classical music, with the No.10 the conductor of the ensemble.

The master rugby five-eighth underplays his hand until he can make a telling intervention. We saw this with Daniel Carter on Friday night, when he led the Crusaders to their demolition of the Brumbies. The highest praise that can be given to Beale after his Saturday night performance is that he played like Carter.

Have the 2008 Waratahs found their missing link, an excellent five-eighth?

spiro@theroar.com.au