Waratahs forced into late changes before Super Rugby Champions Final

The NSW Waratahs have made three late changes ahead of the Super Rugby Champions Final against the Blues, with the team’s Player of the Year among those ruled out of the title decider at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval.

Ameila Whitaker was a standout for the Waratahs throughout another successful Super Rugby Women’s campaign, which saw the New South Wales club secure a three-peat for the second time in less than a decade.

Whitaker was initially brought into the Waratahs starting side for the Champions Final, but the outside back has since been ruled out. The Tahs confirmed in a social media post on Saturday that Whitaker and midfielder Rosie Ferguson have both been ruled out.

Edie Burke and Lusiana Vesikula have been brought into the run-on side, while Anaia Cruickshank is in line to potentially debut in cambridge blue off the bench. The rest of the team remains unchanged, with Emily Chancellor leading the side as captain.

New South Wales were beaten by the Blues 36-5 in the 2025 Champions Final, played in torrential conditions at Albany’s North Harbour Stadium. Both sides have since secured three-peats in their respective Super Rugby competitions, setting up another clash between the champions.

 

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The Tahs overcame two regular season defeats to win their seventh Super Rugby Women’s title, beating the Fijian Drua in the decider. As for the Blues, Katelyn Vahaakolo was the match-winning hero in a thriller against Matatu in Christchurch.

“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.”