League: First flight on Warriors wing

The Warriors will use their second NRL debutant in three games against South Sydney after bringing Misi Taulapapa into their starting thirteen yesterday.

Taulapapa, 24, replaces his Auckland Lions teammate Patrick Ah Van on the Warriors' right wing after Ah Van damaged the a/c joint in his shoulder in Canberra at the weekend.

Ah Van is out for four weeks and Manu Vatuvei, the man he replaced, is still recovering from a hamstring strain.

That rules him out again this weekend and will have the Kiwis selectors nervous.

Jerome Ropati is also ruled out with a hamstring problem and coach Ivan Cleary has stuck with the halves combination of Grant Rovelli and Nathan Fien and the remainder of the team that led for all bar four minutes in Canberra.

Ah Van had handled himself well at NRL level, Cleary said.

Taulapapa's form in the Bartercard Cup was strong after early trouble with a stress fracture in his foot.

Taulapapa switched from rugby in 2004 and made the New Zealand A side after good form for Marist Richmond Brothers.

He was brought in to the Warriors development squad last year and travelled to Perth as 18th man for the match against the Cronulla Sharks last May.

Taulapapa will be the 130th player to take the field for the Warriors in their 12 seasons in the premiership.

He will also be the third new starter this season, former Cowboy George Gatis making his club debut in round three and Ah Van his against Manly.

So far this season the Rabbitohs have been good 60 or even 75-minute players, like the Warriors.

Souths have led the Roosters and Dragons and led against the Bulldogs last weekend before falling to more determined play from their opponents in the second half.

An 80-minute effort will win this game, whichever team supplies it.

* New Zealand coach Brian McClennan believes 19-year-old Broncos utility Greg Eastwood is a future Kiwis star.

A junior Kiwi who tips the scales in excess of 100kg, Eastwood can play five-eighth, centre or even fullback.

He has emerged as a long shot for next month's Tri-Nations final rematch between New Zealand and Australia at Suncorp Stadium, although McClennan thinks he may be too underdone at this stage of the season to pull on the black and white jumper.

"He's got that Wally Lewis thing about him, hasn't he?," suggested McClennan who has no doubt Eastwood will play for the Kiwis.

"He's part of the future for the Kiwis. We've got our eye on him.

"He's got that Kiwi feeling and he can play in positions where we struggle which makes it exciting."

The recently-turned 19-year-old caught the eye with his maiden NRL try against the Roosters last Friday, crossing the line with a huge smile on his face and later earning praise from his coach Wayne Bennett.

McClennan said: "You watched him smile and you got the feeling, 'This boy is going to be doing this a lot more'."

- additional reporting AAP



Warriors v Rabbitohs, Ericsson Stadium, 7.30pm Saturday

Warriors

Brent Webb
Todd Byrne
Tony Martin
Clinton Toopi
Misi Taulapapa
Grant Rovelli
Nathan Fien
Ruben Wiki
George Gatis
Steve Price (c)
Awen Guttenbeil
Wairangi Koopu
Louis Anderson
Reserves: (from) Sione Faumuina, Evarn Tuimavave, Richard Villasanti, Micheal Luck, Lance Hohaia, Sam Rapira.

Rabbitohs

Todd Polglase
Nathan Merritt
Yileen Gordon
A. MacDougall
Shannon Hegarty
John Sutton
Ben Walker
Peter Cusack (c)
Shane Walker
Jaiman Lowe
David Fa'alogo
Joe Galuvao
Shane Rigon
Reserves: (from) Mike Greenfield, Stuart Webb, Ben Rogers, Mark Minichiello, Paul Mellor, Shannan McPherson.