A battered NSW Waratahs side are grateful for an early season bye in a punishing Super Rugby campaign which could conclude with them playing for 13 straight weeks.

Any disappointment felt at having momentum stalled following their round two away win over Melbourne last Friday has been tempered by the knocks suffered in a game featuring brutal breakdown contests.

While no Waratah was seriously injured in the game, assistant coach Daryl Gibson revealed a number of players were nursing minor injuries.

He expected a full roster of players to be available for their next game against Queensland in Brisbane on Saturday week.

“The game against the Rebels was particularly competitive at the breakdown and the bye has come at a good time really,” Gibson said on Tuesday.

“We’ve managed to rest the guys who need that and give them the time and we expect them all to be available for next week.

“In an ideal world it would have been nice to build on momentum from the weekend, but the flip side of that is it’s good that we’ve got that opportunity to do that.

The Waratahs will play just four more matches before getting their second bye.

They then face a daunting stretch of games over ten successive weeks leading into the finals.

Another three consecutive matches await if they make it all the way through to the finals, but don’t finish in the top two and have to play a qualifier.

“We do have that long stretch of games, so we’re going to be creative when we give guys (time) off during the week in-season,” Gibson said.

“One of those is we’re going out to South Africa late in the season this year, we’re going to go late in the week to give ourselves some time off there.”

Waratahs captain and lock Dave Dennis said players would have to take ownership of the situation and communicate to the coaches and medical staff how they are feeling.

“If it means not training earlier in the week later in the year, then so be it,’ Dennis said.

“It’s just a matter of self-management.”

Some of the Waratahs bench players from the opening rounds will get a run on Friday against a Pampas team from Argentina.

One major off-field decision regarding NSW rugby was made on Tuesday, with Rugby Union Players’ Association CEO Greg Harris appointed to fill that vacant position at Waratahs Rugby.