The NSW Waratahs have named a powerful 32-strong Super Rugby AUS squad that boasts an exciting blend of elite, academy, and club players.<\/p>\n
\nFrom the squad for the four-week competition, seventeen are on full\u00a02025 NSW Waratahs contracts, nine are from the NSW Waratahs Academy Pathway program and six have been chosen from Sydney\u2019s Shute Shield competition.<\/p>\n
Dan McKellar, NSW Waratahs Head Coach, will oversee the program; but the Super Rugby AUS Head Coach will be Lachlan McCaffrey, his Assistant Coach (Defence).<\/p>\n
\nMike Catt (Attack) and Dan Palmer (Set Piece) will continue as Assistant Coaches.<\/p>\n
\nSuper Rugby AUS between Australia\u2019s Super Rugby Pacific sides will run from Friday 12 September to Sunday 5 October alongside the Super Rugby Men’s U19 competition. <\/p>\n
The Super Rugby Men’s U16 competition will also run from Saturday 27 September to Sunday 2 November.<\/p>\n
\nSuper Rugby AUS, meanwhile, will provide more game time to players not in the Wallabies squad.<\/p>\n
\nIt is also an important development initiative for players in the NSW Waratahs Academy and club rugby, as well as for coaches and staff on the four Australian teams.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSuper Rugby AUS is an important platform from which to develop our players, and to create opportunity for those who have also stood out in Shute Shield,\u201d McKellar said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHowever, it is also an opportunity to develop our coaches and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCaptain for Super Rugby AUS is Wallaby lock Matt Philip who returned to Sydney from Japan in July. Vice captains are flyhalf Lawson Creighton and inside centre Joey Walton.<\/p>\n
\nOn naming Philip as captain and Creighton and Walton as vice captains, McKellar said: \u201cWe want to develop strong leaders and need players to take ownership of this.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe need younger leaders to step up going into years two and three of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMcCaffrey is excited by the opportunity to step up as the NSW Waratahs Head Coach for the duration of Super Rugby AUS.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI am grateful for getting the opportunity to head coach here at home – my home state – and hopefully make the Waratahs and boys proud,\u201d McCaffrey said.<\/p>\n
\nOn the NSW Waratahs squad selected, McCaffrey said: \u201cObviously, you pick the best players available who can help us to win a competition at the end of the day.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBut as Super Rugby coaches, part of our job is to watch Shute Shield every weekend.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe have our eyes across a lot of players, and the six that we have brought in from Shute Shield have consistently been high performers throughout the season.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe’ve got a close link with the Academy and young Sydney boys who have left school and are putting their best foot forward in the nineteens, Aussie 20s and our system.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to giving them an opportunity to progress to Super Rugby.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThen you have the full squad [Super Rugby] boys from 2025 who will enjoy the opportunity to play more rugby and create new relationships with new players. \u201c<\/p>\n
The NSW Waratahs Super Rugby AUS Squad is:<\/p>\n
\nForwards<\/p>\n
\nJamie Adamson (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nMiles Amatosero (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nJack Barrett (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nDaniel Botha (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nBrady Dawson (Northern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nEthan Dobbins (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nAustin Durbidge (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nOniti Finau (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nChlayton Frans (Warringah)<\/p>\n
\nBen Grant (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nClem Halaholo (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nIsaac Kailea (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nTom Lambert (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nBruce Kauika-Petersen (Hunter Wildfires)<\/p>\n
\nMatt Philip (\u00a9\/Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nApolosi Ranawai (Northern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nPete Samu (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nLeafi Talataina (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
Backs<\/p>\n
\nLawson Creighton (vc\/Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nJoey Fowler (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nLiam Grover (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nSid Harvey (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nJames Hendren (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nLeo Jacques (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nMichael McDonald (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nJames McGregor (Eastwood)<\/p>\n
\nHenry O\u2019Donnell (Northern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nJackson Ropata (Warringah)<\/p>\n
\nOtto Serfontein (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nHwi Sharples\t(Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nJoey Walton (vc\/Gordon)<\/p>\n
\nTeddy Wilson\t(Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
Injured<\/p>\n
\nSifa Amone (Northern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nJack Bowen (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nEamon Doyle (Sydney University)<\/p>\n
\nCharlie Gamble (Eastern Suburbs)<\/p>\n
\nWill Goddard (Eastwood)<\/p>\n
\nTriston Reilly (Randwick)<\/p>\n
\nArchie Saunders (Warringah)<\/p>\n
2025 Super Rugby AUS \/ U19 Schedule (all times local)<\/p>\n
ROUND 1 at a venue to be confirmed<\/p>\n
\nNSW Waratahs v Western Force<\/p>\n
\nFriday 12 September at 7.30pm (Super Rugby AUS)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday 13 September at 10.30am (U19)<\/p>\n
ROUND 2 at Narrabri Rugby Club<\/p>\n
(Santos Festival of Rugby)<\/p>\n
\nNSW Waratahs v Queensland Reds<\/p>\n
\nSaturday 20 September at 5.45pm (Super Rugby AUS)<\/p>\n
\nSunday 21 September at 1pm (U19)<\/p>\n
ROUND 3 at Viking Park, Canberra<\/p>\n
\nACT Brumbies v NSW Waratahs<\/p>\n
\nSaturday 27 September at 3pm (U19)<\/p>\n
\nSaturday 17 September at 5pm (Super Rugby AUS)<\/p>\n
GRAND FINALS<\/p>\n
\nSunday 5 October<\/p>\n
\nVenue TBC<\/p>\n
All games of Super Rugby AUS, Super Rugby U19 and Super Rugby U16 will be broadcast live on Stan Sport and the rugby.com.au YouTube channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NSW Waratahs have named a powerful 32-strong Super Rugby AUS squad that boasts an exciting blend of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,32951,760,85,33009],"class_list":["post-112575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nsw-waratahs","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-waratahs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}