Super W: Waratahs laying foundations for future with second straight title

Mon, Apr 8, 2019, 8:27 AM
Beth Newman
by Beth Newman
The Waratahs women feel they can continue to improve after another Super W title. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart Walmsley
The Waratahs women feel they can continue to improve after another Super W title. Photo: RUGBY.com.au/Stuart Walmsley

Waratahs women's coach Matt Evrard says his side is only just beginning to scratch the surface of its potential after another Super W title.

The NSW women won their second straight Super W championship on Sunday night and are yet to lose a game in the two seasons of the competition's existence.

Evrard has maintained all season that his team has plenty more to give and he reiterated that view after Sunday's final.

Many of his charges are still relatively new to the sport and he said the growth of their rugby instincts in seasons to come would only make them more dangerous.

"The foundation's there," he said.

"They've spent the last two years just getting better and better as footy players - understanding the game and working out how to pick teams apart and build pressure, when we play quick, when we play slow, all that sort of stuff and I just see them getting better and better as a group.


"There's so much youth in this group and the experience that's around the group, they're not looking to go too far. I just hope nothing but the best for them all moving forward."

Evrard only took over as head coach this year but he is a fixture in Australian rugby and said it was exciting to witness the team's development in that time.

"I've been around this group for the last few years even leading into Super W starting, you see how hard they work and how hard they want to get better and better," he said.

"That's it - in finals rarely you see a team put on their perfect game and that was it again tonight.

"It just took hard work, lots and lots of get back up, tackle again, earn the turnover when you don't deserve it, all that sort of stuff."

It was NSW's younger brigade that really helped them gain ascendancy in Sunday's arm wrestle of a title decider - a development that sends an ominous message to the rest of the country from a team already stacked with Test stars.


One of those Test names is Grace Hamilton, who scored the match-winning try with half an hour to go in the decider.

Hamilton has quickly become one of Australia's most recognised women's rugby players since making her Wallaroos debut in 2017 but it's the growth ofher younger teammates that gives her the most excitement.

"Those young girls that came on, I think gave us that gap, they really did," she said.

"The future's bright for NSW and I can't wait to see what happens."

>Many of the NSW and Queensland women who went head-to-head on Sunday will likely be named as teammates in the Wallaroos squad to face Japan, set to be named later this week.

Australia takes on Japan in Newcastle and at North Sydney Oval on July 13 and 19. 
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