Super Rugby: Jamie Roberts preparing for a different challenge at Waratahs

Jamie Roberts expects his 35-year-old legs to be asked new questions in a cameo for the New South Wales Waratahs this season.

Nine years after the British and Irish Lions star scored against the Wallabies in their final Sydney Test, the former Wales centre will call the city home.

His shock mid-season departure from the Dragons comes with his Sydney-born wife expecting their second child.

Roberts will have his hands full there, while he also wants to learn how to surf.

But after dominating Europe’s heavier tracks with Harlequins, Bath and the Dragons, perhaps his greatest test will be adapting to the faster style of rugby and contributing to a team that lost every game last season.

“It’s a different game; faster track, hand speed of the players, the skill set,” Roberts, who got a brief taste of Super Rugby in a shortened 2020 stint with Cape Town’s Stormers, told Rugby Australia’s official website.

“Northern hemisphere it’s on heavier pitches, quite attritional, lot of kick chase, the ball can be greasy.

“What I’m fully expecting here is like South Africa, width on the ball, faster, quicker way of playing.

“I feel like I’m winning collisions and keeping up with the pace of the game, but I’m going to have to adapt quickly.”

Roberts played the last of his 94 Tests in 2017 and now has the chance to nurture a midfield that boasts freshly-capped Wallabies centres Izaia Perese and Lalakai Foketi.

And he’s aware of the impact he can make after new coach Darren Coleman sounded him out following injuries to fellow midfielders Joey Walton and Mosese Tuipulotu.

“You want lads striving to get into the team, so be that guy, be a good team man,” he said.

“There’s a lot of young players here and I probably learned more from the senior