Professional Era
In their inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, the Waratahs won just under half of their games, finishing mid table, with the two other Australian teams finishing above them. The following season of 1997 saw the Waratahs end in a 9th place, winning four fixtures.
In the 1998 season the Waratahs won a best six out of 11 games, ending up in 6th position on the ladder at the end of the season, despite obvious improvements the team had still yet to make a finals appearance. The Waratahs won four fixtures the next season. They won five games in the 2000 season and the 'Tahs finished their season in 9th place.
In 2001 the Waratahs won the same amount of games as the 2000 season but finished, still out of reach of finals contention, in 8th position. 2002 was a record breaking season for the Waratahs, as the team won eight out of their 11 season games and finished in second place behind the Crusaders – making the semis. However in the final game of the regular season the Waratahs lost 96–19 (a Super Rugby record). They were defeated by their Australian rivals the Brumbies, 51–10, in the Waratahs' first ever semi-final. The combined score over the two weeks was Brumbies/Crusaders 147 v. Waratahs 29.
In the 2003 season the Waratahs missed a place in the finals, finishing in 6th position on the ladder at the end of the regular season. In 2004 the Waratahs made a promising start to their season with three straight wins. The team finished 8th on the Super 12 table, six points out of the finals. That year coach Ewen McKenzie re-introduced the end of season tour, taking place in Argentina that year. In 2005, they had their best regular season, finishing second in the table, before losing to the Crusaders in the 2005 Super 12 Final.
The Waratahs finished 3rd on the regular season table for the 2006 Super 14 season, in which two new teams entered the expanded tournament, the Force and Central Cheetahs. In the last home match of the regular season, the Waratahs hosted the Hurricanes, which they lost 14 to 29. The news that star league recruit Wendell Sailor had tested positive to an illegal substance and thus faced a career ending ban from the game was an unwelcome intrusion on the Waratahs semifinal build up. The following week, the semi-finals, they again faced the Hurricanes, though away in Wellington. The Waratahs made their exit, losing 16 to 14. Wendell Sailor later received a two year ban from the game, marring a season that had promised so much.
The 2007 Super 14 season was the most disappointing for the team and its supporters with the Waratahs winning only two games against the lions and the wooden spoon winning reds gaining a final placing of 13th out of 14 (incorrect, the Waratahs beat the Hurricanes in Wellington in their final game of the season). Despite the poor performance the 2007 season saw the emergence of teenage rugby prodigy Kurtley Beale and proved to be a rebuilding stage in the waratahs super 14 championship run.
The 2008 season for the NSW Waratahs begun well with solid pre-season wins and a solid opening game victory against the Hurricanes 20–3 The round 4 victory over the Brumbies marked NSW's 500th victory since their first match in 1882. After starting the season in a slow but solid manner the 'Tahs began to play their best rugby in their mid season match with the blues scoring their first four try bonus point of the season, the Waratahs then continued on a roll finishing their home season with an impressive 4 try bonus point win against title front runners the Sharks improving to second place on the ladder. An average South African trip saw the team slip to third on the ladder after notching only 3 competition points after losing to the Bulls (7 or less BP) and a satisfactory draw against other title contenders the Stormers. The Waratahs faced the Reds in the final round with a win securing second place and a home semi-final win over the Sharks moved them up to their first Super 14 final against the Crusaders which they lost by 12–20.
2009 saw the Waratahs narrowly miss the playoffs, however the team made the semi-finals in 2010, in which they lost to the Bulls, and the qualifying finals in the revamped Super Rugby competition in 2011, in which they lost to the Auckland Blues.
Read more about this topic: New South Wales Waratahs
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