Daniel Halangahu has been elevated from back-up five-eighth to Waratahs captain for Saturday night’s Super Rugby opener against Queensland, and he’ll most likely return to the bench for round two.
They’re unusual circumstances but, for Halangahu, the last-minute reshuffling is nothing new and he says he won’t be overawed against the defending premiers.
The 27-year-old is the 17th most experienced player in NSW rugby history yet, heading into his eighth season of Super Rugby, he’s mostly lived a life of being in and out of the starting side.
Berrick Barnes was to wear the No.10 and skipper the side at ANZ Stadium but, after he failed to recover from a groin strain, Halangahu has an opportunity to show what he can do when he has total charge of the team.
Out of the blue, he’s captain, chief playmaker and goalkicker and Halangahu is keen to make the most of it despite Barnes’ expected return next week against the Rebels.
“I want to be playing 10 and I often joke that Berrick is the best No.12 in the country and he’s a really good 15,” said Halangahu.
“He’s a great footballer and my role is to push him as much as I can and move him out of the 10 jersey to somewhere else.
“The last two years, I’ve dealt with some injury … and it’s difficult sometimes when you’re not sure where your body’s at and you’re not sure if you are playing for your position, but that’s something I’m quite used to.
“It’s an honour … as a 10, you need to run the team so having the ‘c’ next to your name … it’s just encouraging me to do my job better.”
Halangahu said he won’t be doing any ranting and raving in the sheds before the match or at halftime. He’ll simply run through tactics and make sure his players are in the right mindset.
With first-choice captain Rocky Elsom sidelined with injury and Barnes out, many expected the job to fall to flanker Dean Mumm who filled in for Phil Waugh on occasion last season.
However, Waratahs coach Michael Foley said from his point of view, it was logical for Halangahu to climb the ladder all the way to captain and Wallabies prop Benn Robinson to be his deputy.
“We planned for that through pre-season. In both pre-season games, Berrick and Daniel captained the sides, so the 10s ran the teams and we had forward vice captains, and we’ve continued from that point on,” Foley said.
“Rocky is our captain for our season and we’ve taken a bit of time to understand what we’ll expect from our match-day captain and, with that in mind, there was obviously a chance Berrick could be replaced and, on that basis during the trials, we rehearsed both guys in that role.
“(Daniel’s) job is just to call the game as he sees it and instruct the team on what he needs.”
Like Barnes, Pat McCutcheon failed to recover from a niggling injury (calf) from the trials and he’s been replaced by Chris Alcock.
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