The NSW Waratahs have included nine players from last year\u2019s U19s Grand Final winning side in their first Super Rugby Next Gen squad of 2026 against the Western Force at Eric Tweedale Stadium (1.30pm kick-off).<\/p>\n
They include try scorers from that day Louis Fenwicke at full back and Zach Fittler at inside centre. In fact, only two players in the squad are over the age of 20.<\/p>\n
NSW Waratahs Head of Pathways Andrew Cleverley is hoping for a big performance from the club in the competition, after months of dedicated preparation.<\/p>\n
“Players and staff are looking forward to the challenge of the upcoming Next Gen fixtures,\u201d Cleverley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers have been working extremely hard since the beginning of November, which has led to fantastic gains in the gym and on-field performance measures. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it is time to show that on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Waratahs side also includes lock Isaac Fonua and outside centre Leo Jaques, who both featured for our Waratahs senior team\u2019s 49-19 win against the Reds in Brisbane last weekend, with Jaques a full member of our Swftyx Super Rugby Pacific squad. <\/p>\n
Scrum-half Angus Grover and replacement hooker Oniti Finau have also been training with the main squad ahead of the start of the season, as did captain Marshall le Maitre and number eight Toby Brial before Christmas.<\/p>\n
The new, three-week Super Rugby Next Gen competition will feed into the Australia U20s program, held in February, and will replace the Super Rugby U19s in 2026.<\/p>\n
It has been strategically placed to align with the Rugby Championship U20s in April, with the World Rugby U20s to be held in July in Georgia. While the competition is focused on the U20s group, clubs will be permitted to field players over the age of 20 in 2026. <\/p>\n
\u00a0NSW Waratahs v Western Force <\/p>\n
Super Rugby Next Gen, Round 1, Saturday 7 February, 1.30pm kick-off AEDT<\/p>\n
Eric Tweedale Stadium, 2 Montrose Ave, Merrylands, NSW 2160<\/p>\n
Starting XV:<\/p>\n
Nick HillDylan SimmonsEdwin LangiAron BrennanIsaac FonuaLuca CleverleyMarshall Le Maitre \u00a9Toby BrialAngus GroverHarrison DeneTom Farr-JonesZach FittlerLeo JaquesRory O\u2019ConnorLouis Fenwicke<\/p>\n
Replacements:<\/p>\n
16.\u00a0Oniti Finau<\/p>\n
17.\u00a0 Lotu Vunipola<\/p>\n
18.\u00a0Harper Strachan<\/p>\n
19.\u00a0Cooper Green<\/p>\n
20.\u00a0Justice Taumoepeau<\/p>\n
21.\u00a0Sam. Blank<\/p>\n
22.\u00a0James Archer<\/p>\n
23.\u00a0Tom O\u2019Hara<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NSW Waratahs have included nine players from last year\u2019s U19s Grand Final winning side in their first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,33009],"class_list":["post-458790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-waratahs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458790","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=458790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}