After a week of overwhelming distractions, the Blues managed to release a small amount of pressure from their shoulders after they punished the Waratahs, but coach Sir John Kirwan wasn't about to label the win as a sudden quick fix.

Following the immediate departure of Benji Marshall - which weighed heavily on the whole side - the two-tries-to-one win over the Waratahs, broke a two-game losing streak and will help to ensure the end to the whole saga.

"Tonight was a critical moment for the franchise," Kirwan said. "We're heading in the right direction. It was a character test for us as a group tonight and I thought they passed with flying colours, but it's one game. We needed the points. We weren't desperate but we were under pressure and we reacted well to that pressure. We've got another home game [against the Reds] next week and we need to do that same."

Although the Blues have struggled away from home - losing 12 matches in a row on the road - Eden Park remains a stronghold, producing four wins from four games, and brushing their five defeats aside, the side is keeping their playoff hopes alive.

"We're trying to create something here," he said. "We've been working hard but haven't had the performance. We want to make this place special for us."

Waratahs coach Michael Cheika was unimpressed by the sides' sloppy display and stated the players would need to make better decisions with the ball in hand.

"It's just about playing well and making good decisions," Cheika told Fairfax Media. "It's not like I have to find a magic solution, it's already there, it's about sticking to how we want to play the game."

"When we [stuck to the game plan] we were just taking yards off them," he said. "I can't fault the rest of the game, there were a couple of bad errors in the line out and we didn't squeeze hard enough in defence at times. But as far as the shape of our attack is concerned, we couldn't have done much more, we were making yards at will down the edges of the field. What do you do?"