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New South Wales Waratahs
Founded	1882 (first NSW match) 1996 (Super 12 begins)
Union	Australian Rugby Union
Location	Sydney, Australia
Region	New South Wales excluding Riverina and southern parts
Ground	Sydney Football Stadium
Capacity	42,000
Coach	Ewen McKenzie
Captain	Phil Waugh
League	Super 14
2007	13th
Home colours		Away colours
Official website
www.nswrugby.com.au

The New South Wales Waratahs (referred to as HSBC Waratahs for sponsorship reasons, the Waratahs or simply the 'Tahs) are an Australian rugby union football team, representing most of New South Wales in the Super 14 (formerly Super 12) competition—though not the Riverina or other southern parts of the state, which are represented by the Brumbies, who are based in Canberra and owned by the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union.

The Waratahs has historically been the name for the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) representative team, and became the name for the New South Wales team when it entered the Super Six, Super 10 and Super 12 competitions. The name and emblem comes from the Waratah, the state flower for New South Wales. Their home ground is Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park in Sydney.

Contents 1 Amateur era 2 Professional era 3 Logo and colours 4 Stadium 5 Season standings 6 Current squad 7 2007 Super 14 table 8 Former players 9 Coaches 10 Statistics 10.1 Team 10.2 Individual 11 See also 12 External links

The SNWRU (or then, The Southern RU - SRU) was established in 1874, and the very first club competition took place that year. By 1880 the SRU had over 100 clubs in its governence in the metropolitan area. In 1882 the first New South Wales team was selected to play Queensland in a two-match series. NSW would go onto win both the games.

That same year the first NSW touring squad was selected to go and play in New Zealand. During World War I, the NSW (and QLD) Rugby Unions ceased senior competition. The Queensland body however would not reform until 1929, which saw NSW have more responsibilities for Australian rugby. In 1921 the Waratahs toured New Zealand again, and out of their 10 fixtures, won nine games, including the Test.

The most famous Waratah team was the 1927/28 Waratahs who toured the United Kingdom, France and North America, introducing a style of open, running rugby never seen before, but which has been the stamp of the Australian game ever since. They won 24 and drew two of their 31 official matches. When the selectors sat down to choose the immortal 1927/8 Waratahs, they picked no less than seven from the Drummoyne Rugby Club. Upon returning home, were greeted with a parade through Sydney and a reception at Town Hall. Matches against Queensland would soon resume also.

The 1930s were a particularly successful time for NSW. The height of the success of NSW is best represented by the defeat of the South African Springboks in 1937 at the SCG. NSW Rugby Union would also perform strongly throughout the following decades as well, which included the emergence of footballers such as Trevor Allan, David Brockhoff, Tony Miller, Nick Shehadie, Eddie Stapleton, Ken Catchpole, John Thornett, Peter Crittle and Ron Graham.

In 1963 the Sydney Rugby Union was established for the growth of the game in the city area. The NSW Rugby Union would celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1974. As part of the anniversary celebrations, a match was played at the SCG on May 18 against the All Blacks, though the Waratahs lost nil to 20.

In their inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, the Waratahs won just under half of their games, finishing mid table, with the two other Australian teams finishing above them. The following season of 1997 saw the Waratahs end in a 9th place, winning four fixtures.

In the 1998 season the Waratahs won a best six out of 11 games, ending up in 6th position on the ladder at the end of the season, despite obvious improvements the team had still yet to make a finals appearance. The Waratahs won four fixtures the next season. They won five games in the 2000 season and the 'Tahs finished their season in 9th place.

In 2001 the Waratahs won the same amount of games as the 2000 season but finished, still out of reach of finals contention, in 8th position. 2002 was a record breaking season for the Waratahs, as the team won eight out of their 11 season games and finished in second place behind the Crusaders - making the semis. They were defeated by their Australian rivals the Brumbies, 51-10, in the Waratahs first ever semi-final.

In the 2003 season the Waratahs missed a place in the finals, finishing in 6th position on the ladder at the end of the regular season. In 2004 the Waratahs made a promising start to their season with three straight wins. The team finished 8th on the Super 12 table, six points out of the finals. That year coach Ewen McKenzie re-introduced the end of season tour, taking place in Argentina that year. In 2005, they had their best regular season, finishing second in the table, before losing to the Crusaders in the playoffs.

The Waratahs finished 3rd on the regular season table for the 2006 Super 14 season, in which two new teams entered the expanded tournament, the Force and Central Cheetahs. In the last home match of the regular season, the Waratahs hosted the Hurricanes, which they lost 14 to 29. The news that star league recruit Wendell Sailor had tested positive to an illegal substance and thus faced a career ending ban from the game was an unwelcome intrusion on the Waratahs semifinal build up. The following week, the semi-finals, they again faced the Hurricanes, though away in Wellington. The Waratahs made their exit, losing 16 to 14. Wendell Sailor later received a two year ban from the game, marring a season that had promised so much.[1]

The New South Wales Waratahs play in a sky blue jersey and navy blue shorts, blue having a long sporting association with the state and a famous rivalry with the red/maroon colour of Queensland. Long time sponsors HSBC feature on the front of the jersey. An alternative white strip is also used. In pre-season of 2006, the Waratahs donned a new jersey scheme in a trial game against the Crusaders. This system saw traditional rugby playing numbers on the back of jerseys replaced with the initials of the player. Previously made by Canterbury, the current jersey is made by ISC and is cambridge blue, with the alternate strip being white with navy piping.

Up until 1885, New South Wales wore 'heather green' strips. From 1897 to 1891, New South Wales played in scarlet jerseys. The following season they team adopted Cambridge blue jerseys. The light blue jersey and navy blue pants were established in 1897 and have been in effect ever since. The New South Wales rugby union team have historically been known as the Waratahs, the flower, the Waratah, being the state flower of New South Wales.

The Waratahs play at Sydney Football Stadium, which is in Sydney's Moore Park, adjacent to the Sydney Cricket Ground. The capacity for the stadium is 42,000, though it is currently under renovations to expand capacity to 45,500. The Waratahs share the ground with Sydney F.C. and the Sydney Roosters.

As well as Sydney Football Stadium, the Waratahs have in the past played fixtures at other stadiums throughout the state. During the Australian Provincial Championship, in which the Waratahs had two fixtures, the games were taken to the Central Coast Stadium in Gosford, and the other to Bathurst. The Waratahs will also be playing a trial match at WIN Stadium in early 2007.

Season	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	BP	Pts	Notes
1996	6th	11	5	0	6	312	290	+22	8	28
1997	9th	11	4	0	7	255	296	-41	4	20
1998	6th	11	6	1	4	306	276	+30	4	30
1999	8th	11	4	1	6	246	248	-2	6	24
2000	9th	11	5	0	6	273	258	+15	5	25
2001	8th	11	5	0	6	306	302	+4	5	25
2002	3rd	11	8	0	3	337	284	+53	7	39	(lost semi-final to Brumbies)
2003	5th	11	6	0	5	313	344	-31	7	31
2004	8th	11	5	0	6	342	274	+68	7	27
2005	2nd	11	9	0	2	322	174	148	5	41	(lost final to Crusaders)
2006	3rd	13	9	0	4	362	192	170	9	45	(lost semi-final to Hurricanes)
2007	13th	13	3	1	9	266	317	-51	7	21

Player	Position	ARC	Club	Super 14 caps	Wallaby caps
Ben Batger	Wing/Fullback	N/A	Eastwood	9	0
Alastair Baxter	Prop	Central Coast Rays	Northern Suburbs	71	51
Kurtley Beale	Flyhalf	Western Sydney Rams	Northern Suburbs	10	0
Luke Burgess	Scrumhalf	Melbourne Rebels	Eastern Suburbs	2	0
Will Caldwell	Lock	Sydney Fleet	Sydney University	24	0
Matthew Carraro	Utility Back	Canberra Vikings	Gosford	4	0
Tom Carter	Centre	N/A	Sydney University	0	0
David Dennis	Back Row	Melbourne Rebels	Sydney University	0	0
Matt Dunning	Prop	Wallabies Squad	Eastwood	76	36
Rocky Elsom	Flanker	Wallabies Squad	Randwick	55	32
Adam Freier	Hooker	Wallabies Squad	Randwick	67	20
Daniel Halangahu	Flyhalf/Fullback	Sydney Fleet	Sydney University	23	0
Sam Harris	Centre	Central Coast Rays	Manly	23	0
Ben Jacobs	Centre	Central Coast Rays	Warringah	28	0
Al Kanaar	Lock/Back Row	N/A	Sydney University	26	1
David Lyons	Back Row	Wallabies Squad	Sydney University	93	44
Alfi Mafi	Fullback/Wing	Sydney Fleet	Sydney University	0	0
Ben Mowen	Back Row	East Coast Aces	Easts (QLD)	1	0
Dean Mumm	Lock/Back Row	Sydney Fleet	Sydney University	12	0
Sam Norton-Knight	Utility Back	Central Coast Rays	Northern Suburbs	36	2
Wycliff Palu	Back Row	Central Coast Rays	Warringah	27	17
Tatafu Polota-Nau	Hooker	Western Sydney Rams	Parramatta	26	3
Beau Robinson	Flanker	Central Coast Rays	Northern Suburbs	9	0
Benn Robinson	Prop	Western Sydney Rams	Eastwood	27	6
Brett Sheehan	Scrumhalf	Central Coast Rays	Warringah	26	1
Timana Tahu	Centre	N/A	N/A	0	0
Jeremy Tilse	Prop	Sydney Fleet	Sydney University	1	0
Lote Tuqiri	Wing	Wallabies Squad	West Harbour	60	58
Lachlan Turner	Wing	Western Sydney Rams	Eastwood	8	0
Josh Valentine	Scrumhalf	Sydney Fleet	N/A	49	4
Dan Vickerman	Lock	Wallabies Squad	Sydney University	70	52
Phil Waugh (C)	Flanker	Wallabies Squad	Sydney University	82	66

2007 Super 14 Table watch · edit · discuss
Pos	Name	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	BP	Pts
1	Sharks	13	10	0	3	355	214	141	5	45
2	Bulls	13	9	0	4	388	223	165	6	42
3	Crusaders	13	8	0	5	382	235	147	10	42
4	Blues	13	9	0	4	355	235	120	6	42
5	Brumbies	13	9	0	4	234	173	61	4	40
6	Chiefs	13	7	1	5	373	321	52	10	40
7	Western Force	13	6	1	6	276	282	-6	6	32
8	Hurricanes	13	6	0	7	247	300	-53	3	27
9	Highlanders	13	5	0	8	235	301	-66	7	27
10	Stormers	13	6	0	7	249	326	-77	3	27
11	Cheetahs	13	4	1	8	265	342	-77	4	22
12	Lions	13	5	0	8	175	284	-109	2	22
13	Waratahs	13	3	1	9	266	317	-51	7	21
14	Reds	13	2	0	11	201	438	-237	3	11
Updated 2007-05-11

• Matt Burke
• Wendell Sailor
• Chris Whitaker
• Morgan Turinui
• Chris Siale
• Brendan Cannon
• Josh Holmes
• Mat Rogers
• Leroy Houston
• Stephen Hoiles
• Peter Hewat

• Chris Hawkins - 1996
• Matt Williams - 1996 to 1999
• Ian Kennedy - 2000
• Bob Dwyer - 2001 to 2003
• Ewen McKenzie - 2004 to present

• Biggest win - 50-3 v Cats, 2006
• Biggest loss - 19-96 v Crusaders, 2002

• Most Caps - 107 - Chris Whitaker
• Most Points - 957 - Matt Burke
• Most Tries - 24 - Matt Burke
• Most Points in a Season - 184 - Peter Hewat (2006)
• Most Tries in a Season - 10 - Peter Hewat (2005)
• Most Points in a Match - 34 - Peter Hewat (v Bulls, 2005)

• New South Wales Rugby Union

• waratahs.com.au - Official website
• nswrugby.com.au - Official website of NSW Rugby
• gothetahs.com - Unofficial Fan website
• wearbluefriday.com - Fan website
• theRoar.com.au 2007 season review
• NSW jersey info

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Rugby Union (Super 14)	New South Wales Waratahs

v • d • e Super Rugby
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Teams	Blues • Brumbies • Bulls • Cheetahs • Chiefs • Crusaders • Force • Highlanders • Hurricanes • Lions • Reds • Sharks • Stormers • Waratahs
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v • d • e Australian Provincial Championship
Teams	Brumbies · New South Wales Waratahs · Queensland Reds · Western Force
Seasons	2006 • 2007 • 2008

v • d • e New South Wales Rugby Union
Member of the Australian Rugby Union
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