{"id":806645,"date":"2026-07-17T18:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806645\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T18:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:47:19","slug":"super-rugby-news-2026-bernard-foley-returns-to-nsw-waratahs-exclusive-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806645\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby news 2026: Bernard Foley returns to NSW Waratahs, exclusive interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernard Foley<\/a> hopes he can unlock the potential in the NSW Waratahs<\/a> backline after agreeing to a one-year deal with the struggling Super Rugby<\/a> club.<\/p>\n

Foley, 36, and long-time play-making partner Nick Phipps, 37, have both returned to Sydney and want to help restore NSW pride after successful stints in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"TOKYO,<\/p>\n

Bernard Foley of Kubota Spears gives a thumbs up for fans.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The Waratahs are yet to officially announce their arrivals at Daceyville, but Foley spoke to Stan Sport\u2019s Rugby Heaven<\/a> about his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a really exciting opportunity to be back in Australian rugby,\u201d five-eighth Foley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had seven great seasons over in Kubota, in Japan, and learned a lot, played some pretty good rugby. I didn\u2019t really have this on the list a couple of months ago, but the opportunity\u2019s come about, and just excited to be back in the Waratahs.\u201d<\/p>\n

NSW parted ways with coach Dan McKellar after again missing the finals this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve got great players. We saw this year how hard they worked, and they wanted to work, but they probably didn\u2019t get the results,\u201d Foley noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to go back in and hopefully work with a couple of the young guys and that backline would be pretty exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foley and Phipps were the starting halves when the Waratahs won their only title in 2014.<\/p>\n

Foley played the last of his 76 Tests against Wales in 2022 and his return home will strengthen his chances of featuring at the home 2027 Rugby World Cup under new coach Les Kiss.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies and Waratahs have failed to settle on a consistent No.10 and Declan Meredith will start for Australia against Italy in Perth on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Foley will be expected to mentor young pivots Max Burey and Joey Fowler at the Waratahs, and he will also be a valuable sounding board for NRL recruit Angus Crichton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to be half the role for me,\u201d Foley explained.<\/p>\n

\"Bernard<\/p>\n

Bernard Foley with an ‘Iceman’ sculpture made in his honour.\u00a0nna\\sworthington<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t coming back just to play, it\u2019s to try and work with these young guys, and instil confidence in them, try and grow their game playing ability, but also how they manage their matches, and I\u2019m excited for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to look, completely, or how much they\u2019re going to take up from what I\u2019m going to give to them\u2026 but you learn off the guys around you, you learn off the older guys in squads. When the older guys give you confidence and teach you, then I think your ability goes through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foley spoke with McKellar about joining the team before the coach\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

He was open-minded about the identity of the next person in charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very early days, I think, in terms of the process and how they\u2019re trying to recruit or see who\u2019s available,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think you want a coach that goes in there and really empowers the players. There\u2019s so much talent and ability, but we want those guys to go out there and express and play free.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of workers in there, worked extremely hard, from all reports, and hearing from the guys this year, they did a lot of hard work, but maybe very structured. So how they then can be freed up, how you can go and enjoy the place and feel empowered as a player to run the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foley also expressed his belief that Waratahs and Wallabies centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was best used as a winger.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Waratahs on Friday announced that fly-half Jack Bowen and locks Ben Grant and Angus Blyth have all left the club.<\/p>\n

Director of high-performance BJ Mather thanked the trio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have all shown unwavering commitment to the club and represented the Waratahs\u2019 jersey with pride whenever they have taken to the field,\u201d Mather said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack came all the way through our pathways program to Super Rugby Pacific level, while Ben and Angus have been huge assets for us in the second-row.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish them all the best for the future and what\u2019s next for them in their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACT Brumbies on Thursday announced they had lured Waratahs outside back Triston Reilly to Canberra.<\/p>\n

\"Triston<\/p>\n

Triston Reilly of the Waratahs scores a try.\u00a0nna\\sworthington<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really pleased to bring Triston into our program. He\u2019s a proven Super Rugby performer with the ability to change a game in an instant,\u201d Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis physicality, pace and aerial skill set give us real flexibility and weaponry across the backline, and we believe he\u2019ll thrive in our environment,\u201d Larkham said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bernard Foley hopes he can unlock the potential in the NSW Waratahs backline after agreeing to a one-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-806645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806645","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=806645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}