The NSW Waratahs have announced they will face Japanese club Kubota Spears on November 29 as they ramp up their Super Rugby Pacific pre-season.
It will mark Dan McKellar’s first game in charge of the new squad as they head to Tokyo for the hit-out.
Watch every game of the Wallabies Spring Tour live and exclusive on Stan Sport.
The clash doubles as a reunion with club legend Bernard Foley, who has been an instrumental figure in both the Spears and Waratahs’ history.
Foley kicked the winning penalty in NSW’s breakthrough 2014 Super Rugby title before moving overseas to Japan.
The former Wallaby led the point scoring in Japan Rugby League One in 2022-23 as they took out the title.
Kubota are coming off a sixth place finish last year, with Springbok Malcolm Marx amongst their star players.
They have also added Wales fullback Liam Williams, with four players named in Japan’s side that went down to the All Blacks over the weekend.
As for the Waratahs, it’ll be a perfect opportunity for McKellar to test out combinations after his return to Australian Rugby.
The NSW side will be without their Wallaby contingency, with their Australia XV players a chance to feature given they wrap up their matches 11 days before the match.
The likes of Miles Amatosero, Teddy Wilson and Charlie Gamble are amongst the players potentially pushing their cases to McKellar after missing selection, whilst the status of Rob Leota remains up in the air as he returns to injury.
It continues the partnership with the Japanese clubs, with the Queensland Reds currently on tour.
The Reds defeated Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in a closed-door trial on Sunday, with the official fixture slated for November 4 for the Saitama-Queensland Shield.
The Brumbies completed a similar tour in 2023, whilst the Western Force have just returned from a three-game series in South Africa.
At this stage, the match will not be broadcast online, kept exclusively for Spears members to attend.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
