Three-time NRL premiership winner Angus Crichton headlines a star-studded NSW Waratahs squad for next year’s Super Rugby Pacific season, with returning halves Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps among the 13 capped Wallabies named.

Crichton helped the Sydney Roosters win the NRL Grand Final earlier this month, with incoming Waratahs coach Michel Cheika also involved. Cheika was part of the coaching staff at the Tricolours, and he’s now overseeing Lebanon’s Rugby League World Cup campaign.

Former State of Origin star Crichton will help lead the Waratahs into its new era under Cheika, alongside some other big-name additions to the roster. Foley and Phipps are another two notable inclusions, with the 2014 Super Rugby winners adding invaluable experience.

Wallabies enforcer Angus Bell will also be back in cambridge blue next season, after spending the 2025/26 URC campaign with Irish side Ulster. Club rugby standouts George Francis and Otto Serfontein will also be involved with the Tahs in 2027.

The Tahs have also turned to a host of young prospects, with prop Edwin Langi, loose forwards Isaac Fonua and Marshall Le Maitre, scrum-half Angus Grover and playmaker Joey Fowler named in the Super Rugby Pacific squad for the first time.

“We’re very pleased with the overall shape of the Waratahs squad for 2027,” Cheika said.

“We have a good balance of types of players in many areas and we’re definitely going to add or reinforce in others.

“Angus (Bell) is clearly an international-level player and those types are a huge part of the way Super Rugby teams play. We’re keen to get him playing at his peak and in career-best form for the Waratahs to give him a platform to perform for the rest of 2027.

“I’m hugely looking forward to the other Angus (Crichton) coming over to rugby union. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching him recently at the Roosters and I have no doubt about him making a successful transition back to rugby.

“I was very impressed with the younger crop coming through that played in Super Rugby AUS. Being a former back-rower, I particularly enjoyed Isaac (Fonua) and the way he carried and I’m also very interested in the profile of a player like Marshall (Le Maitre), a forward who has the lightning speed of a back.

“We’re looking forward to our international players featuring at the Nations Championship in November and welcoming them back to the fold in January for pre-season.”

Max Burey moved from the Western Force to the Tahs ahead of the Super Rugby AUS season, with the fly-half impressing during New South Wales’ run to the Grand Final. Joseph-Aukuso Suaali, Max Jorgensen, Teddy Wilson and Sid Harvey are among the other backs named.

2027 NSW WARATAHS SQUAD

Forwards

Miles Amatosero
Jack Barrett
Angus Bell
Dan Botha
Ethan Dobbins
Eamon Doyle
Folau Faingaa
Isaac Fonua
George Francis
Clem Halaholo
Isaac Kailea
Sefo Kautai
Edwin Langi
Marshall Le Maitre
Matt Philip
Veikoso Poloniati
Apolosi Ranawai
Luke Reimer
Pete Samu
Angus Scott-Young

Backs

Max Burey
Angus Crichton
Bernard Foley
Joey Fowler
Jake Gordon
Angus Grover
Sid Harvey
James Hendren
Max Jorgensen
Henry O’Donnell
Nick Phipps
George Poolman
Harry Potter
Otto Serfontein
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii
Teddy Wilson