Daniel Halangahu will start at first five for QBE Harbour against Wellington tomorrow night.
The veteran playmaker impressed in a cameo appearance off the bench in last Friday’s 20-11 loss to Bay of Plenty. Head coach Steve Jackson’s keen to see him direct the ship from the get go.
“We’ve gone with Dan because we think getting early points will be vital against Wellington. He’s an experienced Super Rugby player and I think in the second half of that Steamers game we got a bit more direction around the park so that’s why we’ve gone with him.”
An injury in the midfield’s forced a change at second five and centre.
“Pita Ahki’s out with a hamstring strain and he won’t be available until the Southland game so we’ve just shuffled our backline and brought Michael Little in one to 12 in what’s probably his favoured position and Matt Vaega comes into his preferred position at centre,” said Jackson.
Adrian Smith gets a rare start at loosehead prop with Nic Mayhew also sidelined through injury.
Its Harbour’s first home game of the season, Jackson’s keen to draw on the support.
“We’ve got an opportunity tomorrow night in front of our home fans to rectify some of the things we did poorly last week. It’s going to be a tough task but hopefully we get a good crowd and we get some people that will stick around after the first XV final for the main game because we really appreciate the support from our community.”
Tickets to our first home game of the year start from $18. $5 for kids. Registered Juniors of the Harbour Union will gte free entry.
Westlake Boys take on Rosmini College in the 1st XV final at QBE Stadium, kick-off is at 5:35.
The ITM Cup clash starts at 7:35.
QBE HARBOUR v WELLINGTON
* Harbour debut
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