Nick Haydon could not have picked a better game to lead Oxford University for the first time.

The Dark Blues face Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday in the Australian scrum half’s opening match as captain.

And Haydon is relishing the chance to take on a side bidding to qualify for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

“Portugal are ranked 21st in the world and are hoping to get some big fixtures in,” said Haydon.

“It is going to be a cracker. They will be brutal.

“It will be a big test of character to see how I go.

“It is such a great honour and privilege to captain a side like that with their history.

“To captain them in an international fixture to start with will be fantastic.”

The 26-year-old had an impressive first Varsity campaign and ended up as vice-captain to Dan Rosen.

Although Haydon was unopposed in the election, he did not have an easy ride.

He said: “To convince my colleagues, I got questioned for a couple of hours.

“As you can imagine, they are all very intelligent people, asking intelligent questions.

“It was very disappointing to lose last year.We will need to improve exponentially to get anywhere near Cambridge.

“The two things I highlighted from the Varsity Match were our defence and our second half. We failed to use our bench well.”

Haydon, who has played for ACT Brumbies, is certainly not lacking experience.

“I captained the Australian Universities for four years, most importantly on a two-month UK tour,” said Haydon “We played Oxford here in 2005 and I think it snowed.”

Haydon also skippered the Brumbies A team and had a big leadership role with club side Sydney University.

As for his style, he added: “I am not a big shouter, I am probably more of a lead by example player.”

Haydon and new secretary, lock Karl Outen, hope to make the club more cohesive, rather than having the Blues squad as a separate entity, while money remains a big issue.

Haydon said: “This year there are going to be some big changes in the club.

“Financially, last year was a very difficult year, so it is very important to recruit the right players and sponsors.

“We are going to spend more time trying to build up some good home fixtures.

“We will be playing running rugby and you don’t see much of that in the Premiership.

“We don’t want to be beating teams by 40 points like we did to Major Stanley’s.

“We want really tight games that are going to push us.”

Haydon’s wife Georgie is due to give birth to their first child in May, but he also has other arrivals in mind.

“Recruitment is really big this term,” said Haydon. “We need to get some quality players to challenge Cambridge.”