Senior front rower Sam Rapira is set to make his first NRL appearance of the season after being named on the bench for the Vodafone Warriors’ fifth-round clash against the Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium (formerly the Sydney Football Stadium) on Saturday night.
He has been included on a six-man interchange bench after being sidelined with a shoulder injury since the club’s second preseason trial against South Sydney at Coffs Harbour on February 11.
The 24-year-old, 123-game veteran has been selected in jersey No 17 on a bench which also includes Kiwi prop Russell Packer and Ukuma Ta’ai.
Vodafone Warriors head coach Brian McClennan has named a starting line-up showing just one change from the run-on combination used against the Titans - second rower Feleti Mateo is listed to start with Lewis Brown moving to the bench.
“It’s great having Sam ready this week,” he said.
“He was close against Gold Coast but the decision was made to give him another week.”
Also named are fullback Kevin Locke and winger Manu Vatuvei, who both came out of the 26-6 win against the Titans requiring medical attention. Vatuvei sat out most of the second half with his left hamstring iced but he trained today and is on target for his 137th career match on Saturday night. Locke is recovering from a cork above his right knee.
“Kevin didn’t train today but we’re hopeful he’ll pull through. We’ll give him as much time as we can to recover,” said McClennan.
Glen Fisiiahi, who played four NRL matches last year, has been included on the bench. He has scored nine tries in his last two New South Wales Cup matches for the Auckland Vulcans, six against Western Suburbs on March 17 and three against Manly last Saturday; in all he has 10 in four matches so far this season.
Named in the centres again are Jerome Ropati and Ben Henry, who combined to make 40 tackles between them last Saturday with just one miss and no ineffective tackles. Ropati also gained 136 metres from 14 runs, earning him the players’ player of the day award from his team-mates as the Vodafone Warriors’ racked up their second win of the season, their first at home this year and the 200th in the club’s history.
The match performance and acknowledgement from his peers was a boost for Ropati as he came through just his second full 80-minute outing since his season-ending knee injury against St George Illawarra on March 27 last year.
In scoring five tries against Gold Coast, the Vodafone Warriors now have 18 tries in four games and a total of 100 points scored (only the Melbourne Storm have more). The defensive effort was easily their best of the season so far, holding the Titans scoreless until the 75th minute. Loose forward Elijah Taylor and hooker Nathan Friend shouldered the bulk of the workload with 89 tackles between them, Taylor with a game-high 47 and Friend with 42.
The Vodafone Warriors will encounter a Roosters side chastened by a humiliating 4-44 loss to the Storm last Sunday. In the clashes between the two sides last year, the Vodafone Warriors won 24-12 at Mount Smart Stadium while the Roosters prevailed 13-6 in Sydney on a night when Shaun Johnson made his NRL debut.
The Vodafone Warriors fly to Sydney on Friday and will go into camp in Australia after the match to prepare for another away game against Canberra on Easter Day (Sunday, April 8).
For much of next week the team will be based at Kiama on the southern New South Wales coast before heading to the Australian capital.
VODAFONE WARRIORS:
1 KEVIN LOCKE
2 BILL TUPOU
3 BEN HENRY
4 JEROME ROPATI
5 MANU VATUVEI
6 JAMES MALONEY
7 SHAUN JOHNSON
8 SIONE LOUSI
9 NATHAN FRIEND
10 BEN MATULINO
11 FELETI MATEO
12 SIMON MANNERING (c)
13 ELIJAH TAYLOR
INTERCHANGE:
14 RUSSELL PACKER
15 UKUMA TA’AI
16 LEWIS BROWN
17 SAM RAPIRA
18 GLEN FISIIAHI
20 KONRAD HURRELL
COACH: BRIAN McCLENNAN
warriors media
