The visitors ran in eight tries to three in the 54-28 victory in cold and blustery conditions at WIN Stadium.

The loss continued the Waratahs winless season, dropping all 11 matches played this year.

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NSW have now conceded 105 points in two games in the Illawarra after they fell to the Chiefs 51-14 last year.

The difference between the two sides largely came down to execution, the Crusaders skills enabling an expansive gameplan.

Waratahs coach Chris Whitaker was pleased with his side's effort, but conceded they didn't play well enough for long enough.

"We're a young team starting out," Whitaker said.

"I think one of the things we're trying to work on is having that confidence for 80 minutes, because we're doing some good things and then just have little lapses in concentration. It's all about putting that 80-minute performance in."

The visitors were willing to chance their arm with ball in hand, repeatedly turning down penalty goal attempts in search of tries.

Five-eighth Richie Mo'unga was at the centre of the side's attack, creating opportunities for those around him.

The Waratahs worked hard throughout the contest and were able to match the Crusaders for long periods of time.

Momentary lapses, however, proved costly with the visitors exploiting their opponent's errors.

NSW have shown an ability to score in recent weeks, however it has been their defence that has let them down.

Their opponents have scored 166 points in the last three weeks, with captain Jake Gordon confident a win is not too far away if they can improve in that area.

"If we make small shifts in our defence, we can definitely score points," Gordon said. "Defence for us, if we just tweak a few things, we're going to put ourselves in a position to win games.

"Like you've seen, three or four tries again today, we finish on 30 points. If we can just limit how many points they score, maybe there are some wins these last couple of games."

The first 40 was relatively even, however where the hosts were kicking penalty goals, the Crusaders were scoring tries.

NSW were unable to match their opponent's intensity with ball in hand, the New Zealanders playing with a pace that left the Waratahs retreating.

While NSW were forced to work for each metre with ball in hand, the Crusaders were able to find holes in the opposition defensive line from anywhere in the field.

That led to a number of long-range breaks, the side crossing for four tries, including two in the final five minutes of the first half that saw the lead blow out to 17 at the break.

The Crusaders extended their advantage just moments into the second half, before the Waratahs staged a fightback of their own.

Tries to Jack Maddocks and Izaia Perese cut the margin to just 12 and had the Wollongong faithful daring to dream of an unlikely victory.

It was not to be, however, the visitors running in 21 more points while Alex Newsome crossed for the Waratahs in the final play of the game.