The NSW Waratahs clash against the British & Irish Lions at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night marked both a beginning and an end for the home team.
A beginning … because the brave 10-21 loss by the NSW Waratahs before a 40,568 crowd that surprised many - especially those who predicted a fifty point-plus thrashing - should reinforce belief and hope for what the NSW Waratahs can do in the 2026 season.
It certainly did for lock Matt Philip who, after making his debut for the NSW Waratahs, spoke of the exciting times to come upon receiving his first Cap in the locker room after.
An end … because it was their last game as a group under head coach Dan McKellar.
For a number of players, it was their last game for the NSW Waratahs; from their captain on the night, Hugh Sinclair for whom it was his adieu to professional rugby, to other players whose rugby journeys will continue elsewhere in the months and years ahead.
Gratitude for their contribution to the NSW Waratahs – and that of others who did not play on Saturday night but featured throughout the Super Rugby Pacific season – was a key point in McKellar’s post-match address to the team as they sat in the lock room.
While it reminded how the NSW Waratahs are on an axis of change looking to 2026, it reinforced the valued imprint on the group left by every one of those leaving players.
Sinclair’s was a befitting finale to the game after all the forward has put into the NSW Waratahs, his Sydney club, Northern Suburbs and rugby in general throughout NSW.
He debuted for the NSW Waratahs in 2019. On Saturday, playing at No. 8, the curtain eventually fell on his career to applause with sixty-seven caps for NSW (plus seven for the Rebels) in the 69th minute when Englishman Jamie Adamson replaced him.
Sinclair may never have earned selection as a Wallaby, but the respect and admiration for what he achieved as a player and as a leader saw him bow out in deserving fashion.
As McKellar said in admiration of Sinclair last Thursday after training: “He is a player you have a lot of respect for because he has squeezed everything out of his career.”
In trademark fashion, Sinclair was measured in his regard for how that curtain did fall in a game that, while displaying the team’s resolute defence, was there for the taking.
“It would have been good to win it, to be fair; but I’m proud of the boys,” Sinclair said.
“The effort they put in to keep the Lions to twenty odd points … We had some opportunities to get some more, but … it was fun and a good way to bow out.”
Sinclair’s lament for the NSW Waratahs not doing the ‘unthinkable’ – to win the game - was not just conjured by the emotion of realising that a fairytale end slipped by.
McKellar also believed the NSW Waratahs had it in them to win the game, despite not six players absent due to Wallabies commitments, and others unavailable due to injury.
“We spoke about putting them under pressure and terrorising them with our press defence,” McKellar said. “Defensively [they were] very courageous and full of fight.
“[But] I’ve said it before, I am not into romantic losses. Unfortunately, we were a little bit inaccurate around set piece, and with ball at had at key times it probably stopped us …
“If we had of got to 21-17 and made it a contest in the last few minutes, it would have been interesting.”
Asked if he felt the NSW Waratahs’ defensive performance against the Lions will have inspired supporters to continue backing his side in 2026, McKellar said: “I think so.
“There is a rugby community in NSW that are desperate to get behind the Waratahs.
However, McKellar reiterated the need for consistent performance like what they produced against the Lions and saw sporadically during the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific.
“Tonight was a one-off game. It’s easy to get up for one-off games,” McKellar said.
“The really good teams and the really good players do it week on week on week.
“That comes back to our consistency with our daily habits and what we do at training every day of every week. It’s the same message that I keep drilling into the boys.”
