RUGBY - Koonwaiyou nervous at being centre of attention

The last time Tony Koonwaiyou took the long walk through the bowels of the Carisbrook grandstand, he was as nervous as a schoolboy at the annual ball.
That was understandable - he had only just left school and been plucked from his first season of club rugby to play on the wing for Auckland, in a championship semifinal no less.
So the dank confines of the Carisbrook tunnel out on to the field were even more foreboding than usual.
Koonwaiyou might not be a schoolboy any more, but the nerves will be there again when he makes the same walk tonight, this time in a Northland jersey.
The 24-year-old back will be making just his third appearance for Northland in two years, and playing only his third game of any description this season when he starts in the No.13 jersey against Otago in Dunedin.
The game will mark his representative comeback after battling a series of leg injuries that have limited his rugby for the last three years. In that time Koonwaiyou has only played four first-class games and a handful of club matches.
But Koonwaiyou will be hoping he can use Carisbrook to launch phase two of his career, just like he did to begin stage one.
It was after scoring two tries for Auckland at Carisbrook in 2003, picked up a title the next week then was drafted into the Crsuaders for a season of Super 12 rugby. He soon became a household name after that.
That's a lot of personal history to contemplate ahead of tonight's Air NZ Cup fixture.
"I am a bit nervous all right, a bit more nervous than usual," Koonwaiyou said. "I am just trying to forget the leg thing. It has been coming good for the last couple of weeks, it has not bothered me at all. I am trying not to think about it and focus on the game more and just play as if nothing is there at all."
Of more concern, Koonwaiyou said, was his selection at centre, a position he last played as a star turn in the Kings College 1st XV. A winger for Auckland, Blues and the Crusaders, he said the positional switch has added an extra challenge tonight.
If adjudged a success, it may become more permanent shift as Northland coach Mark Anscombe tries to find a method of keeping Koonwaiyou and strike wingers Fetu Vainikolo and Rene Ranger on the pitch at the same time.
"The last time I played in No.13 was back at school, so I have been trying to focus myself with the role I have in the game now. It is different and a challenge," he said.
Otago have regained experienced fullback Glen Horton for the fixture but are still without skipper Craig Newby.
Horton and Newby missed Otago's horror opening round 7-68 loss to Wellington but, after assessments this week, only Horton passed the test to replace Ben Smith in the No.15 spot.
In other Otago changes, coach Steve Martin has switched last week's try-scorer Alipate Fatafehi from the left wing to the right for Karne Hesketh with Greg Zampach taking the left. In the reserves, utility back Charlie Hore comes in for Chris Noakes.