Waratahs eye ‘redemption’ against New Zealand’s best in Champions Final

NSW Waratahs captain Emily Chancellor has acknowledged the shot at redemption that awaits the Super Rugby Women’s champions, as they strive for a historic win over the Blues in the Super Rugby Champions Final at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval.

Both the Waratahs and Blues secured three-peats last weekend, taking out their respective Super Rugby competitions on either side of the Tasman. The Tahs piled on the points in a big win over the Fijian Drua, and the Blues overcame Matatu in a Super Rugby Aupiki thriller.

It’s set the stage for another meeting between the two sides, both of whom are in the midst of title-winning dynasties. But only one can emerge as the best side on either side of the Tasman, with a clash this weekend set to crown the best of the best.

The Blues took out the first-ever Champions Final with a 36-5 win over the Tahs last year, played in torrential conditions at Albany’s North Harbour Stadium. Braxton Sorensen-McGee was among the standouts, before the fullback achieved higher honours with the Black Ferns.

New South Wales will play in front of a home crowd this time, in what looms as a clash between two titans of women’s rugby. It’s a shot at unprecedented history for the Tahs, while captain Maia Roos is looking to lead the Blues towards more trophy-winning history.

“No one wrote us off specifically but it was the principle of you lose a couple of games, people build up this idea of a dynasty that we didn’t create other than winning games, and we know we’ve been the chase in Australia for a long time,” Chancellor told reporters in Sydney.

“To get knocked off with a few games is a good humbling experience, it’s a good way to learn how to come back from losses and work out how to flick that mentality shift. And I think we did that really well coming into this game.

“We’re playing against another team that’s won a three-peat. We’re playing against another really successful team. It’s a great opportunity to butt heads with the best on this side of the world so we’re excited.

“We haven’t really built on a mindset of being an underdog and we never really took an underdog mentality into the semi-final or the final, but we just took it with a chip on or shoulder. We’ve got a redemption to do this week so maybe that’s the mindset rather than underdog.”

The Waratahs have now won seven Super Rugby Women’s titles in less than 10 years, but their road to championship glory in 2026 was anything but smooth. Both the Western Force and arch-rivals the Queensland Reds secured maiden wins over New South Wales.

Those defeats saw the Tahs finish third on the ladder, while the Drua and Force occupied the top two spots. The Drua went on to host the decider after beating the Reds in the semi-finals, while the Tahs have travelled a fair way.

The Tahs overcame the Force in Perth in the Super Rugby Women’s semi-finals, before taking on the Drua in Ba. It’s been a challenging year for the serial champions, but as Chancellor discussed, some positives have come out of the season.

“We’ve had such great opportunity to grow a little bit more depth in our program this year than we have in previous years,” Chancellor said.

“Injuries create opportunities. We talk about that all the time. You know that one person out for a couple of weeks gives someone else an opportunity to step up.

“You build depth from the opportunity in the misfortune of injury, so that’s a big one that we’ve seen as a growth in the players in the wider squad.

“But with that came the challenge of them people feeling like maybe they didn’t deserve it or maybe they hadn’t built the mindset that they were good enough this season.

“We talked a lot about that towards the end of the season, when we had our little hiccups in terms of results, and we said that everyone’s been picked in this squad of 30 because you are the best 30 in New South Wales, not because you’re the understudy to someone else. You are the best person to be in this room.

“That’s been the way we shifted our mindset into how we do the extras, how we focus on those little details.”