In an emotional call to arms, NSW skipper Phil Waugh has urged his troops not to squander another rare opportunity to win an elusive Super rugby title.

Waugh said the pain of NSW's meek 2005 final loss to the Crusaders and the knowledge that several of his long-time teammates, along with coach Ewen McKenzie, would not be around next season should serve as prime motivation for the Waratahs in Saturday's rematch in Christchurch.

Waugh and fellow survivors Lote Tuqiri, Rocky Elsom, Dan Vickerman, Adam Freier, Al Baxter and Matt Dunning are still haunted by the manner in which the Waratahs submitted to the Crusaders three years ago.

The Crusaders piled on the points early before NSW ran in some late tries to add respectability to the end scoreline.

In truth, the Waratahs were never in the hunt.

"That was probably the most disappointing thing, that we came off and felt like maybe we should have played how we finished the game and not the other way around," Waugh said.

"If we had have done that, it might have been a different result.

"So I could certainly vouch for all the guys when we came off. We felt like we hadn't played our best football. We were just disappointed that we didn't give it what we had.

"We gave it everything physically, but probably our game plan just let us down.

"So that's why strategy is so important - stick to your strategy and generally get the right result.

"So hopefully we can do that."

With David Lyons off to Llanelli in Wales and Elsom, Vickerman and possibly Freier also considering moves to Europe, Waugh knows Saturday marks the end of an era for the Waratahs and he wants no regrets.

"It's a rare opportunity, particularly for the older guys who have been a long time together and have made a lot of friendships," he said.

"You want to win these things with your mates and your close mates and there's a few guys leaving, so this is certainly a big opportunity.

"It's a changing of the guard in one sense, I suppose. It's a pretty exciting future as well with the young backs that we've got and some of the young forwards as well.

"It's not now or never, but it would be nice to do it with the group we've got."

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