By Jon Geddes

HE may only have finished year 12 at Waverley College last year, but there is no holding back rising secondrower Clem Halaholo who graduated into the school of hard knocks by making his first grade debut for Sydney University last weekend.

The up-and-coming 18-year-old lock got his initiation into the Shute Shield as a replacement just before halftime in the Students’ 17-12 win over Northern Suburbs at North Sydney Oval on Saturday to reclaim the John Thornett Cup.

“It was unreal, the atmosphere just hit me,” a beaming Halaholo said after the game.

“I felt like I was in a dream.”

Not only is he playing in the top grade in his first season out of school, he is doing so in the tight five where there is no time to sit back and pick your moments to get involved.

And the person most surprised by his quick elevation into first grade was Halaholo himself.

“I thought I was playing Colts when I came here,” he said. “They just picked me in second grade.

“And (on Saturday) I thought I would sit on the bench warming up. It was unexpected, I was just chilling in my jacket being warm and then I ran out.”

He said the step up to Shute Shield was harder than he expected, especially the physicality compared to what he was used.
“It’s really taken a toll  on me,” he said with a laugh.

ON THE RADAR      

HALAHOLO is a player of immense potential and it will be very interesting to monitor his progress over the next couple of years. He stands 194cm and already weighs 110kg.

And other people clearly recognise he has something to offer as he has already played two games for the Waratah A team. Waratahs’ astute head coach Darren Coleman is the right man to nurture and develop his talent.

Halaholo is also in the Junior Wallabies squad and Uni expects to lose him for four weeks when the  side competes in the Under 20 Oceania tournament.

Besides his talent, Halaholo also possesses a refreshing enthusiasm for his rugby which will only stand him in good stead moving forward.

“I love the sport,” he said.

His Waverley side won back-to-back CAS titles and one of his teammates in those sides was five-eighth Ronald Volkman, another rugby talent lost to rugby league.

Volkman is in the Sydney Roosters’ system and next year will join the Warriors on a three-year deal. But at the end of that contract he will still be young enough to join Halaholo back in rugby.

Halaholo ended up at Uni following in the footsteps of his dad Billy who was a fourth grade skipper with the club.

READY, STEADY, GO

UNI head coach Sean Hedger had no hesitation promoting Halaholo into first grade last Saturday.

“He has been outstanding in second grade for a couple of weeks and he was ready,” he said.

The Norths’ result was an important one for University, bouncing back following their 27-19 defeat at the hands of the revitalised Two Blues the previous week.

“A loss like last week teaches you a lot of lessons,” Hedger said. “Tonight (Saturday) proves to ourselves where we need to be and should be.

“I was happy with the win, there are still some areas we need to improve on.

“Norths gave us a good lesson when you hold the ball for long periods of time you build real pressure onto the defence and we are not doing that enough at the moment.

“We are aiming for a top four spot, that will be a big achievement for us given the amount of player movement there was in the off-season.”

The club has gone into this campaign after losing 12 of their 15 first graders from last season.

“We are happy sitting where we are and we want to maintain that as best we can. In saying that we are only one third of the way through the season,” Hedger said.