{"id":476884,"date":"2026-02-13T07:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476884\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T07:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T07:53:12","slug":"nsw-waratahs-queensland-reds-add-to-super-rugby-pacific-rivalry-in-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476884\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds add to Super Rugby Pacific rivalry in season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds will open their Super Rugby Pacific seasons in Sydney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Waratahs got the spoils during their pre-season trial, looking to back up their Super Rugby AUS success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/watch\/sport\/rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Lock Matt Philip captains the side for the first time, with the likes of Harry Potter, James Hendren and Pete Samu on their debuts for the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Meanwhile, the Reds have turned to inspirational flanker Fraser McReight to lead the side amid a host of injuries, out to make it five in a row against the &#8216;Tahs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Harry McLaughlin-Phillips and Louis Werchon start in the halves, with young back-rower Vaiaua Latu starting at number eight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION IN THE LIVE BLOG BELOW OR THE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugby.com.au\/match-centre\/205\/2026\/949209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">MATCH CENTRE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>PRE GAME<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Welcome to Rugby.com.au&#8217;s coverage of the NSW Waratahs-Queensland Reds match in Sydney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Both sides are confirmed unchanged from the team namings on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Conditions are colder than you would expect for this time of the year but the rain is set to hold off.<\/p>\n<p>NSW WARATAHS v QUEENSLAND REDS TEAMS<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">WARATAHS (1-15):\u00a0Tom Lambert, Ethan Dobbins, Dan Botha, Matt Philip (c), Miles Amatosero, Clem Halaholo, Charlie Gamble, Pete Samu, Jake Gordon, Lawson Creighton, Max Jorgensen, Joey Walton, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Harry Potter, James Hendren<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Replacements:\u00a0Folau Fainga&#8217;a, Isaac Kailea, Siosifa Amone, Angus Blyth, Leafi Talataina, Teddy Wilson, Jack Debreczeni, Triston Reilly<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">REDS (1-15):\u00a0Aidan Ross, Matt Faessler, Zane Nonggorr, Josh Canham, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Joe Brial, Fraser McReight (c), Vaiuta Latu, Louis Werchon, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Tim Ryan, Hunter Paisami, Josh Flook, Lachie Anderson, Jock Campbell<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Replacements:\u00a0Richie Asiata, George Blake, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Seru Uru, John Bryant, James Martens, Finn Mackay, Xavier Rubens<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Referee:\u00a0Paul Williams<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Assistant Referees:\u00a0Angus Mabey, Michael Winter<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">TMO:\u00a0Graham Cooper<\/p>\n<p>HOW TO WATCH NSW WARATAHS v QUEENSLAND REDS<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Waratahs&#8217; clash with the Reds will be shown LIVE on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Coverage will be live and ad-free on Stan Sport, slated to start at 7:00 pm with kickoff expected at 7:35 pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds will open their Super Rugby Pacific seasons in Sydney. The Waratahs got&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,32951,12061,760,85,48013],"class_list":["post-476884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nsw-waratahs","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476884","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=476884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}