Waratahs attack coach Daryl Gibson believes Israel Folau's destiny lies in the NSW midfield after a successful foray there against the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday.
In a largely unheralded move, the Waratahs named dual international Folau at fullback for their clash with Queensland but regularly switched him to outside centre on Saturday night, leaving Peter Betham to move to fullback and No.13 Matt Carraro and Rob Horne to play on the wings in defence.
The switch has been talked about for some time, but was not expected to happen until much later this season.
A knee injury to regular No.13 Adam Ashley-Cooper prompted Gibson and head coach Michael Cheika to accelerate the transition, and it was declared a success on Tuesday.
"I think he's got a real future playing 'up front'," Gibson said.
"The opportunity with Adam out is that we can gradually just keep exposing [Folau] to those centre-type positions. And given the experience there and given time, that will be become his natural position."
There is no rush among the coaches to make the move official and hand Folau the No.13 jersey, Gibson declaring that Ashley-Cooper was still the team's "No.1 centre".
The Waratahs can see a benefit in occupying the space between, although with Ashley-Cooper sidelined for a month it appears Folau could have extra time to get comfortable in his new role.
"It would be horrible trying to analyse us at the moment because we are constantly shifting," Gibson said. "One day [an official switch to No.13 for Folau] will happen.
"We're looking at our back line and, particularly with Adam out, how we can best utilise everyone's strengths and skills. While that can be complicated because we're always swapping positions, we believe that's the best way and how we can be most effective.
"Because we shift defensively as well, we need lots of wingers who are defensively comfortable in the centres, so someone like Matt Carraro is pretty important to us, and Rob Horne. All with centre backgrounds, but equally capable playing in the midfield. At the moment we're really trying to use everyone's skills to their maximum."
The Waratahs play the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday.
