| Home team | Crusaders |
| Away team | Waratahs |
| Venue | One NZ Stadium |
| Competition | Super Rugby Pacific |
| Kick off time | 8:35 am (UK) |
| Watch Live in the UK | Sky Sports+ |
Crusaders vs Waratahs Super Rugby Pacific preview as the sides open the One NZ Stadium as part of the Super Round.
The sides currently sit next to each other in the table in sixth and seventh. The Crusaders sit two points ahead and a win could see them pushing for the top four. The losing side is at risk of being caught by the Drua or Highlanders.
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Crusaders vs Waratahs lineups tbc
| Crusaders | Waratahs | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Brewis | 1 | Kailea | |||
| Taylor | 2 | Fainga’a | |||
| Newell | 3 | Amone | |||
| Shalfoon | 4 | Philip | |||
| Cahill | 5 | Amatosero | |||
| Gardiner | 6 | Scott-Young | |||
| Fainga’anuku | 7 | Gamble | |||
| Lio-Willie | 8 | Samu | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Hotham | 9 | Gordon | |||
| Kemara | 10 | Debreczeni | |||
| Springer | 11 | Harvey | |||
| Havili | 12 | Creighton | |||
| Ennor | 13 | Walton | |||
| Reece | 14 | Kellaway | |||
| McNicholl | 15 | Jorgensen | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Bell | 16 | Moananu | |||
| Bower | 17 | Lambert | |||
| Calder | 18 | Botha | |||
| Hannah | 19 | Blyth | |||
| Lee | 20 | Halaholo | |||
| Preston | 21 | Adamson | |||
| Reihanna | 22 | Wilson | |||
| McLeod | 23 | Reilly | |||
Recent Form:
Crusaders (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 18th April 2036 | Super Rugby | Western Force | 31-26 |
| Loss | 11th April 2026 | Super Rugby | Reds | 31-26 |
| Won | 3rd April 2026 | Super Rugby | Fijian Drua | 69-26 |
| Won | 21st March 2026 | Super Rugby | Moana Pasifika | 21-50 |
| Won | 14th March 2026 | Super Rugby | Highlanders | 29-18 |
The Crusaders had been in fantastic form when they won four out of five games from late February to the start of April. However, they have lost the last two matches away from home by the exact same scoreline. In the last round they had been 19-0 up after 22 minutes, but conceded five tries across the rest of the match for the scores to be brought back level and then the Force went on to win it by five.
Waratahs (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Won | 17th April 2026 | Super Rugby | Moana Pasifika | 29-14 |
| Loss | 4th April 2026 | Super Rugby | Chiefs | 42-14 |
| Win | 27th March 2026 | Super Rugby | Brumbies | 28-30 |
| Loss | 21st March 2026 | Super Rugby | Blues | 20-35 |
| Loss | 14th March 2026 | Super Rugby | Reds | 26-17 |
The Waratahs have won two of their last three matches to bring them to four wins for the season. In the last round they played Moana Pasifika at home and won 29-14. The Sydney side had been behind twice in the first half but scored four unanswered tries to win the match comfortably in the end.
Crusaders vs Waratahs head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 16th May 2025 | Super Rugby | Crusaders | 33-48 |
| 12th April 2024 | Super Rugby | Waratahs (AET) | 43-40 |
| 2nd March 2024 | Super Rugby | Waratahs | 24-37 |
| 27th May 2023 | Super Rugby | Crusaders | 42-18 |
| 30th April 2022 | Super Rugby | Waratahs | 24-21 |
This has been a traditionally high-scoring fixture with the winning side scoring 37 points or more, and the last two matches have had 80 or more points in total. Crusaders won the last meeting between the teams, and the Waratahs had won two in a row before that.
