After falling short against Knox and Barker at the backend of last season, a number of players return for Waverley ahead of the 2025 season.

On the back of a successful tour of New Zealand last month, Waverley open their 2025 campaign against Trinity under lights at Southern Districts this Friday night.

Overview with Lachlan Drew-Morris

“It’s a bit of a different start this year, heading down to Southern Districts to play Trinity on Friday night. It’s unique and I know the boys are really looking forward to it,” Drew-Morris told Rugby News.

“We had a good tour of New Zealand in April and played some tough fixtures against St Thomas’ Canterbury and Kings’ High School. Our first XV won both of those games, which was pleasing.

“We also took a development team away and they’ll be a lot better for the experience.

“It’s always great to spend time together away from the typically school structures and it’s the ideal way to prepare for a long, tough season.

“We came back and played Joeys and Scots and we learnt a lot from those games as well. The pace of the game and the pressure at the breakdown were really high so we took some pointers from those experiences.

“It was great to get to play Scots again. We don’t often get to play that fixture but it’s a great rivalry and I think our guys performed really well in patches. In saying that, the game did get away from us so we’ll need to be more consistent when the CAS competition begins.

“Looking back at last year, we just didn’t execute when it mattered against Knox and Barker. They were both too good for us on those respective afternoons but we felt as those we were capable of beating them if we played our best.

“We’ve got a lot of boys returning across both the first XV and second XV this year and they are hungry to get a different result.”

2025 Squad: 

“We’ve got a fair few returning and quite a few boys that played in our second XV last year who are hungry for the opportunity.

“Then we’ve got a few boys from the 16As who have been incredibly impressive. They bring plenty of excitement and enthusiasm, which is great for the group.

“We feel like we’ve got a good amount of experience, but we’ve also got some young guys who will add a bit of unpredictability to the squad and our play.”

What sort of rugby will we see from Waverley this year?

“Not much changes with us from year to year, I think most people know that,” Drew-Morris told Rugby News.

“This year, we’ve probably got a bit of a bigger focus on our defence because we felt that in those important games last year, we just let too many points in.

“In the first two trial games against Scots and Joeys, we worked really hard on that and I think the pace of those games will hold us in good stead for the CAS season.

“Overall, we want to defend well and then capitalise on our opportunities when we get them.”

What can we expect this season?

“We’re really excited about the new format and think it’s a great initiative,” the coach said.

“It’s something I think that CAS and ISA can be really proud of because at the core of it, it’s all about getting more young people playing and enjoying rugby for longer.

“It’s a different look, with five CAS games a lot earlier than we are used to but it’s exciting.

“We play Trinity, Aloys and Cranbrook, then finish with matches against Barker and Knox so we’re going to have to be up starting from this Friday night against Trinity.”