{"id":613115,"date":"2026-04-17T14:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613115\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:57:11","slug":"harry-and-meghan-continue-invictus-cause-at-the-rugby-inner-east-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613115\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry and Meghan continue Invictus cause at the rugby | Inner East Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Prince Harry and Meghan joined the crowd at Allianz Stadium for a Super Rugby Pacific game. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS\" class=\"mx-auto w-full\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776437829_114_r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg\" title=\"Prince Harry and Meghan joined the crowd at Allianz Stadium for a Super Rugby Pacific game. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS\"\/>Prince Harry and Meghan joined the crowd at Allianz Stadium for a Super Rugby Pacific game. Photo: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have wrapped up their visit to Australia by enjoying a Super Rugby Pacific match &#8211; even if they didn&#8217;t make it to the final siren.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">After a packed final day of their tour down under, the royals finished the trip at Sydney&#8217;s Allianz Stadium to watch the NSW Waratahs take on Moana Pasifika.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">The couple watched the match alongside former governor-general and Invictus Australia patron Peter Cosgrove, former Wallabies captain John Eales and Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh, as well as Invictus Australia athletes and officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Harry and Meghan sat with Rugby Australia's Phil Waugh, who was delighted to host the couple. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)\" class=\"mx-auto w-full\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776437830_312_r0_0_1280_720_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg\" title=\"Harry and Meghan sat with Rugby Australia's Phil Waugh, who was delighted to host the couple. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)\"\/>Harry and Meghan sat with Rugby Australia&#8217;s Phil Waugh, who was delighted to host the couple. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">They were joined by a modest crowd just shy of 11,000 as well as some rainy Sydney weather.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">Harry is an avid rugby fan and shares a connection to NSW assistant coach Mike Catt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">While Catt was winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup for England, Harry was following the team around Australia and joining in the celebrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">&#8220;He genuinely loves his rugby,&#8221; Catt said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure about Meghan, but I know Harry definitely loves his rugby.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">&#8220;Good guy and it&#8217;s great for the game for us to have people like him, royalty coming in, is a huge benefit for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">The royals enjoyed the first-half action, with Meghan have a boogie to the celebration music after the Waratahs&#8217; first try.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Home team the NSW Waratahs defeated Moana Pasifika 29-14 in a lightning-delayed clash. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)\" class=\"mx-auto w-full\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776437831_416_r0_0_1280_720_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg\" title=\"Home team the NSW Waratahs defeated Moana Pasifika 29-14 in a lightning-delayed clash. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)\"\/>Home team the NSW Waratahs defeated Moana Pasifika 29-14 in a lightning-delayed clash. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">At half-time Harry delivered a speech to the Invictus suite highlighting the success of the Australian movement, stressing that Invictus Australia had worked with more than 30,000 veterans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">The couple were presented with Wallabies and Wallaroos jerseys before they left midway through the second half.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">&#8220;It was wonderful to host Harry, Meghan and their guests from the Invictus Games at tonight&#8217;s Waratahs-Moana Pasifika game,&#8221; Waugh said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Harry and Meghan were incredibly gracious and generous with everyone they met and Harry&#8217;s halftime tribute to Invictus&#8217; work with veterans was deeply moving.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">Just after the royal exit, the match had a lengthy lightning delay and play was suspended for more than half an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">The Waratahs eventually ran out winners 29-14.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_wrapper__6w7GG\">Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan joined the crowd at Allianz Stadium for a Super Rugby Pacific game. Photo: Dan&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-613115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613115","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=613115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}