The Wellington-born product came off the bench in that memorable match, and again in the loss to Australia in the tournament final the following week, but neither of those outings hinted at the impressive form he produced in his third international and first test start.
Tapine got through a mountain of work against Samoa - making a team-high 35 tackles and 13 runs for 126 metres - and surprised himself by playing the full 80 minutes after playing just four full games in 22 outings for the Green Machine this year.
He's willing and ready to do it all again and hopes churning out big minutes will help him play a more dominant role in the Canberra pack next season.
"It was a daunting task. I was a bit afraid of it at the start because I hadn't really played a full 80, especially at international level, and heaps of the boys just helped me through it," he said.
"The trainer came out and was telling me just to keep going, (saying) 'you're playing for your country' and stuff like that.
"That gave me some motivation, but I had the little guy on the shoulder telling me to quit, but I just had to keep going. I need to keep pushing myself to play the 80 and just keep improving.
"And it shows I can do that at my club as well, because I haven't really cemented a starting spot in my club team.
"If I can play good 80s here, then I'm pretty sure I can push myself to get that starting spot at my club."
Seven players from last year's clash will take the field for Scotland, including three of the points-scorers - try-scoring wing Lewis Tierney and centre Ben Hellewell, and five-eighth and captain Danny Brough, who slotted four goals.
Wing Matty Russell, front-row pair Luke Douglas and Danny Addy and back-rower Dale Ferguson, are the other players returning to face the Kiwis, as Scotland look to kick-start their campaign after going down 50-4 to Tonga in Cairns on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Tapine has been shocked by the changes to Christchurch in the wake of the 2011 earthquake, and says the Kiwis are intent on making the locals proud.
"It's the first time I've been here since the earthquake and it's really shocking, I didn't know it was this bad. It's a real wake-up call to perform this week for the people of Christchurch.
"I've only come down here in under 15s and stuff like that. I don't know what the crowd is going to be like, but I'm sure it will be good.
"They love turning up for the Kiwis and you can't take any side like Scotland easy as well. They've got some magic in their team as well but we've still got to do our job."
