Australia 2025

All you need to know about Waratahs

The Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions tour to Australia 2025 is now in full swing

Dan McKellar

The Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions tour to Australia 2025 is now in full swing with the next stopping point taking Andy Farrell’s side to Sydney where they will face the NSW Waratahs at Allianz Stadium.

The Lions arrive with plenty of momentum on their side after defeating the Queensland Reds 52-12 in Brisbane as they brought up a half-century of points for the second match running.

It is 12 years since they last faced the Waratahs and the Lions ran out 47-17 winners in their last meeting, which included two tries from Leigh Halfpenny and further scores from Johnny Sexton, Tom Croft and Jonathan Davies.

Here we find out a bit more about the Lions’ next opponents.

History

There has been a representative side in New South Wales since 1882, when they won a two-match series against Queensland.

In the amateur era, their most notable result came in 1937 when they defeated South Africa 17-6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, an achievement marked out by the fact the Springboks won a Test series in New Zealand later in their tour.

New South Wales entered a side into the Super 10 after that was formed in 1993, and it was after that became the Super 12 at the advent of rugby union turning professional that their ‘Waratahs’ nickname became their official title.

The franchise struggled in the early years of the competition, with it taking them until 2002 to make an impact as they finished second in the table to reach the semi-finals for the first time.

Three years later, under Ewan McKenzie, they reached their first Super 12 final where a team including Justin Harrison, Phil Waugh and Lote Tuqiri were beaten 35-25 by a star-studded Crusaders.

They proved to be the Waratahs’ nemesis again in the 2008 Super 14 season when, after a young Kurtley Beale inspired them to a 28-13 semi-final win over the Sharks, they lost the final 20-12 in Christchurch.

However, they finally took that final step under Michael Cheika as they not only reached the Super Rugby final, which they hosted at Stadium Australia, but defeated the Crusaders 33-32 in a thriller decided by Bernard Foley’s 79th-minute penalty.

Success has proved hard to come by since, with their best run coming in 2018 when they were beaten by the Lions (of the South African variety) in the semi-finals.

After finishing bottom of Super Rugby Pacific in 2024, their most recent campaign did bring some improvement as they ended their campaign eighth, missing out on the play-offs.

Squad

The Waratahs’ head coach is Dan McKellar, who has just completed his first season in charge after leaving Gallagher Premiership side Leicester Tigers last year, while they are captained by scrum-half Jake Gordon.

Their squad includes eight players who are in the current Australia squad and two of them have been released for their match against the Lions in winger Andrew Kellaway and tighthead Taniela Tupou.

Their colleagues Angus Bell, Langi Gleeson, David Porecki, Gordon, Max Jorgensen and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii have been retained by the Wallabies.

Kellaway is a player who will be familiar to supporters of Northampton Saints following his season there in 2018/19 while lock Fergus Lee-Warner used to play for Bath.

Players to watch

Weighing in at over 23 stone, Tupou, aka the Tongan Thor, has over 50 Wallabies caps and is known not just for his scrummaging ability but his rampaging runs in the loose.

Kellaway, meanwhile, has 13 tries in 39 caps for Australia and has just finished his first season with the Waratahs after his previous team, the Melbourne Rebels, were disbanded last year.

He also has a Test hat-trick to his name against Argentina in 2021, and he and Tupou will be keen to put a marker down against the Lions ahead of the upcoming Test series against the Wallabies.

There are four more Australia internationals named in the Waratahs’ matchday squad to face the Lions, with the most experienced of those being Rob Leota, a member of the Wallabies' 2023 Rugby World Cup squad.

New Zealand-born centre Lalakai Foketi (nine caps) had a season in France with Bayonne as a youngster in 2014/15.

There are two players with a single cap to their name in winger Darby Lancaster, who played against Georgia in July last year, and replacement fly-half Tane Edmed, who made his Test debut against Ireland last autumn.

Venue

Sydney’s Allianz Stadium is the newest venue the 2025 Lions will play at during the Tour. It was opened in 2022 after being built on the site of the old Sydney Football Stadium, which had stood from 1988 until its closure in 2018.

The stadium’s capacity is 42,500 and it hosts rugby league team the Sydney Roosters and football side Sydney FC, as well as the Waratahs.

Its first Test match was in September 2022 when Australia hosted South Africa in a match which saw the Springboks ran out 24-8 winners, and it will host matches at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Allianz Stadium was previously used to host six matches in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, including England’s group stage victory against Denmark and Colombia’s shock win against Germany.

Outside of sport, Elton John performed there as part of his ‘global farewell tour’ in 2023 while other musicians to have played at the venue include Bruno Mars and Travis Scott.

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