# 2019 New South Wales Waratahs season

The 2019 New South Wales Waratahs season was the club's 23rd season since the inception of the Super Rugby in 1996.

## Squad
### Coaching and management

| Title | Name |
| Head coach | Daryl Gibson |
| Assistant, attack and backs coach | Chris Malone |
| Forwards and assistant coach | Simon Cron |

### Current squad

The squad for the 2019 season:
| Waratahs Super Rugby squad |
| Props Angus Bell Harry Johnson-Holmes Sekope Kepu Rory O'Connor Tom Robertson Chris Talakai Shambeckler Vui Cody Walker Hookers Damien Fitzpatrick Tolu Latu JP Sauni Andrew Tuala Locks Ned Hanigan Will Harris Ryan McCauley Le Roux Roets Rob Simmons Tom Staniforth Jeremy Williams | Loose forwards Jack Dempsey BJ Edwards Jed Holloway Michael Hooper (c) Will Miller Hugh Sinclair Rory Suttor Lachlan Swinton Patrick Tafa Michael Wells Scrum-halves Jake Gordon Nick Phipps Mitch Short Fly-halves Bernard Foley Will Harrison Mack Mason | Centres Kurtley Beale Lalakai Foketi Alex Newsome Wingers Adam Ashley-Cooper Cameron Clark Ben Donaldson John Folau James Ramm Curtis Rona Fullbacks Israel Folau Karmichael Hunt |
| (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped and $^{ST}$ indicated short-term cover. |

### Transfers

| Player | Position | Previous club |
| Adam Ashley-Cooper | Wing | Kobelco Steelers |
| Andrew Tuala | Hooker | Melbourne Rising |
| Angus Bell | Prop | Newington College |
| Ben Donaldson | Wing | Sydney Rays |
| BJ Edwards | Flanker | Canberra Vikings |
| Chris Talakai | Prop | New South Wales Country Eagles |
| Hugh Sinclair | Flanker | Sydney Rays |
| James Ramm | Wing | Sydney Rays |
| Jeremy Williams | Lock | Scots College |
| John Folau | Wing | Sydney Rays |
| Karmichael Hunt | Fullback | Queensland Reds (Super Rugby) |
| Le Roux Roets | Lock | Pumas |
| Patrick Tafa | Number 8 | New South Wales Country Eagles |
| Rory O'Connor | Prop | Sydney Rays |
| Rory Suttor | Flanker | New South Wales Country Eagles |
| Will Harris | Lock | Scots College |
| Will Harrison | Fly-half | Sydney Rays |
| Player | Position | Club | Notes |
| Andrew Kellaway | Wing | Northampton Saints | |
| Brad Wilkin | Flanker | Melbourne Rebels (Super Rugby) | |
| Bryce Hegarty | Fly-half | Queensland Reds (Super Rugby) | |
| Hugh Roach | Hooker | Melbourne Rebels (Super Rugby) | |
| Irae Simone | Centre | Brumbies (Super Rugby) | |
| Kalivati Tawake | Prop | Biarritz | |
| Kelly Meafua | Flanker | Béziers | |
| Maclean Jones | Number 8 | Sydney Rays | |
| Matt Sandell | Prop | Sydney Rays | |
| Michael Snowden | Scrum-half | | retired |
| Nick Duffy | Scrum-half | Sydney Rays | |
| Nick Palmer | Lock | Sydney Rays | |
| Paddy Ryan | Prop | New South Wales Country Eagles | |
| Taqele Naiyaravoro | Wing | Northampton Saints | |

## Season summary
### Season results

| Rnd | Date & local time | | Team | Score | Venue | Attendance | Ref. |
| 1 | Saturday, 16 February (7:45 pm) | H | Hurricanes | 19–20 | Brookvale Oval, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 17,111 | |
| 2 | Saturday, 23 February (1:15 pm) | A | Sunwolves | 30–31 | Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, Japan | 14,499 | |
| 3 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 4 | Saturday, 9 March (7:45 pm) | H | Reds | 28–17 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 15,681 | |
| 5 | Friday, 15 March (7:45 pm) | A | Brumbies | 19–13 | GIO Stadium, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia | 12,112 | |
| 6 | Saturday, 23 March (7:45 pm) | H | Crusaders | 20–12 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | | |
| 7 | Friday, 29 March (7:45 pm) | H | Sunwolves | 29–31 | McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia | 12,621 | |
| 8 | Saturday, 6 April (7:35 pm) | A | Blues | 32–29 | Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand | | |
| 9 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 10 | Saturday, 20 April (7:45 pm) | H | Rebels | 23–20 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 10,114 | |
| 11 | Saturday, 27 April (7:45 pm) | H | Sharks | 15–23 | Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 10,605 | |
| 12 | Saturday, 4 May (3:05 pm) | A | Bulls | 28–21 | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa | 7,483 | |
| 13 | Saturday, 11 May (3:05 pm) | A | Lions | 29–28 | Emirates Airlines Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa | | |
| 14 | Saturday, 18 May (7:45 pm) | A | Reds | 32–40 | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | 12,236 | |
| 15 | Saturday, 25 May (7:45 pm) | H | Jaguares | 15–23 | Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | 13,885 | |
| 16 | Friday, 31 May (7:45 pm) | A | Rebels | 15–20 | AAMI Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | | |
| 17 | Saturday, 8 June (7:45 pm) | H | Brumbies | 24–35 | Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | | |
| 18 | Friday, 13 July (7:35 pm) | A | Highlanders | 49–12 | Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill, New Zealand | | |

### Standings

| Australian conference |
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 2 | Rebels | 16 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 393 | 465 | –72 | 56 | 61 | 3 | 3 | 34 |
| 3 | Waratahs | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 367 | 415 | –48 | 46 | 54 | 0 | 6 | 30 |
| 4 | Reds | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 385 | 438 | –53 | 50 | 59 | 1 | 3 | 28 |
| Overall standings |
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| 11 | Rebels | 16 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 393 | 465 | –72 | 56 | 61 | 3 | 3 | 34 |
| 12 | Waratahs | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 367 | 415 | –48 | 46 | 54 | 0 | 6 | 30 |
| 13 | Blues | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 347 | 369 | −22 | 45 | 47 | 2 | 6 | 30 |

## Statistics

Top point scorer :
| No. | Player | Pos. | Tries | Pen | Con | Pts |
| 1 | Bernard Foley | Fly-half | 3 | 28 | 22 | 137 |
| 2 | Curtis Rona | Wing | 6 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 3 | Alex Newsome | Centre | 5 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 4 | Kurtley Beale | Centre | 4 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| 5 | Israel Folau | Fullback | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 5 | Nick Phipps | Scrum-half | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 | Michael Hooper | Flanker | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 7 | Adam Ashley-Cooper | Centre | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 9 | Jake Gordon | Scrum-half | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 9 | Cameron Clark | Wing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 9 | Michael Wells | Flanker | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Top try scorer :
| No. | Player | Pos. | Tries |
| 1 | Curtis Rona | Wing | 6 |
| 2 | Alex Newsome | Centre | 5 |
| 3 | Israel Folau | Fullback | 4 |
| 3 | Kurtley Beale | Centre | 4 |
| 3 | Nick Phipps | Scrum-half | 4 |
| 6 | Bernard Foley | Fly-half | 3 |
| 6 | Michael Hooper | Flanker | 3 |
| 6 | Adam Ashley-Cooper | Centre | 3 |
| 9 | Jake Gordon | Scrum-half | 2 |
| 9 | Cameron Clark | Wing | 2 |
| 9 | Michael Wells | Flanker | 2 |