{"id":819805,"date":"2026-07-24T01:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819805\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T01:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T01:00:15","slug":"waratahs-brimming-with-confidence-ahead-of-super-rugby-womens-grand-final-against-drua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819805\/","title":{"rendered":"Waratahs brimming with confidence ahead of Super Rugby Women’s grand final against Drua"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confidence can sometimes be mistaken for arrogance, but NSW Waratahs captain Emily Chancellor knows how to distinguish between the two.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is no surprise the Waratahs took pride in their 33-22 win over the Western Force in the Super Rugby Women’s semifinals, but refused to get carried away with their performance.<\/p>\n

“We got out on the field in that semifinal and there was just this air of clarity around the group,” Chancellor told ABC Sport.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t arrogance. It was just this feeling of we know what to do and we know how to do it, so let’s just go out and execute.”<\/p>\n

As they prepare to face Fijian Drua in Saturday’s grand final in Ba, Fiji, the Waratahs have reason to be in a confident mood.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday against the Force in Perth, the defending champions produced arguably the best 40 minutes of rugby from any side this season.<\/p>\n

They ran in four tries during the first half and led 26-0 before the Force were able to score their first points.<\/p>\n

The Force, who earned hosting rights by finishing above the Waratahs on the standings, clawed back some ground on the scoreboard in the second half.<\/p>\n

But the result was never in doubt.<\/p>\n

“We know we’ve got firepower out wide. We know we’ve got electric backs,” Chancellor said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got a really strong, physical forward pack that has been quite consistent across the last few years.<\/p>\n

“We know the forwards are doing a really good job of going direct and then it’s up to the backs to do what they do best.”<\/p>\n

\"Waiaria<\/p>\n

Waiaria Ellis was superb for the Waratahs in their semifinal win over the Force. (Getty Images: Janelle St Pierre)<\/p>\n

It was a return to form for the Waratahs, who entered the play-offs in third place.<\/p>\n

They dropped their final two regular-season matches against the Force (28-21) and the Queensland Reds (26-19).<\/p>\n

The loss to the Force was the first time they had been defeated by an Australian opponent in Super Rugby Women’s history.<\/p>\n

But sudden-death rugby has become second nature to the Waratahs, who have only missed one grand final among the seven contested in the competition.<\/p>\n

The six-time winners were rewarded for taking a punt on an untried halves pairing, Tia Hinds and Waiaria Ellis, with the selection move proving to be a masterstroke.<\/p>\n

Hinds, an Australian sevens star making her Waratahs debut, was a revelation at scrum half, scoring two tries when she caught the Force’s ruck defence napping.<\/p>\n

She combined brilliantly with 18-year-old Wallaroos sensation Ellis, who helped drive the Waratahs’ attack in her first start at fly half this season after switching from fullback.<\/p>\n

“They (Hinds and Ellis) backed themselves,” said Chancellor, who has played almost 40 Tests for the Wallaroos.<\/p>\n

“Tia, being an incredible reader of space, took her own opportunities, and Baba (Ellis) did a really good job of being calm and collected.<\/p>\n

“She had a really sound knowledge of our game plan and was just able to deliver and execute what she saw in front of her.”<\/p>\n

Tahs face stern test<\/p>\n

The Drua, who have won two Super Rugby Women’s championships, were impressive in their 31-5 victory over the Reds in the first semifinal in Lautoka last Saturday.<\/p>\n

They deservedly finished the regular season on top of the standings with a 3-1 win-loss record.<\/p>\n

But their one defeat came at the hands of the Waratahs, who triumphed 42-29 at Leichhardt Oval in the opening round.<\/p>\n

\"Piper<\/p>\n

The Waratahs defeated the Drua when they played in the opening round of the regular season. (Getty Images: Mark Metcalfe)<\/p>\n

“Fiji would probably be disappointed that it’s us in the final,” Chancellor said.<\/p>\n

“We’re probably the hardest ones for them to beat, in the same way they’re the hardest ones for us to beat. They’ve been playing some really great rugby.<\/p>\n

“They play a style that is hard to defend against, but in the same breath it creates a lot of opportunity because they do play a high-risk, high-reward version of rugby.<\/p>\n

“So if we can withstand some pressure and stay disciplined, I believe we have an attacking game that will be hard to contain.”<\/p>\n

Chancellor’s faith in her Waratahs teammates is not misplaced, as it is built on a key trait the entire squad shares: confidence.<\/p>\n

“We’re a squad who knows how to play big games,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The Waratahs are a team that knows how to win in big moments. We know how to win; we know how to perform under these pressure moments.<\/p>\n

“We take a lot of confidence because we trust each other to do our own jobs.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Confidence can sometimes be mistaken for arrogance, but NSW Waratahs captain Emily Chancellor knows how to distinguish between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,20239,3739,217781,11288,2733,32951,760,2633,85,395010,19259,33009],"class_list":["post-819805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-emily-chancellor","tag-fiji","tag-fijian-drua","tag-grand-final","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-waratahs","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-union","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-womens","tag-wallaroos","tag-waratahs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819805","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=819805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}