Rugby League: Toopi faces test against hard men on the wing

By PETER JESSUP

Tonight's test between the Kangaroos and the Kiwis will be Clinton Toopi's first game on the wing.

He will be up against the man rated by the Australian league selectors as the best wing in the world, 101kg Fijian Lote Tuqiri.

Or, Toopi might have 104kg Wendell Sailor coming at him from the other side of the field. Adam MacDougall, at 100kg, is the replacement.

However, the 90kg Toopi is not wavering. He said he had not been suffering nerves up to yesterday, and was looking forward to the challenge.

"They're big chaps all right, but I'm not going to lie down for them," the 21-year-old said.

Centre David Vaealiki, born nine months before Toopi, will be the only younger player on the field.

Toopi has the fewest NRL games behind him, with 22. Vaeliki has played 40. In the Australian side, Tuqiri with 62 games, Dane Carlaw (46) and Brad Meyers (30) are the least experienced.

Toopi is not concerned.

"The confidence is good and confidence is a good thing," he said after the Warriors' win over Parramatta, a result that has produced plenty of banter in camp this week.

Over-confidence, then over-compensating, has been part of Toopi's problem. A talented ball-player, he has frequently made big breaks then pushed an unnecessary pass and turned the ball over.

"Yeah, I'd drop the ball then try hard to make something work because you don't want to just shut down," he said.

He is grateful to Warriors coach Daniel Anderson for giving him the room to make an error, showing him what went wrong and how to improve, and picking him again to let him prove he has learned.

"Daniel has worked a lot of the errors out. He sentences us to work on the nets and that can be a good confidence booster - you want to work harder for him."

The nets are a string mat that returns balls thrown on it at different angles.

Toopi was a second rower/lock at Otahuhu, and was shifted to centre by former Warriors coach Mark Graham on debut in 1999. Kiwi coach Gary Freeman and assistant Gerard Stokes, a former forward, had taught him plenty about the new position, he said. "Stokesy is always in my ear."

Taking high balls kicked wide by the Paul brothers, Henry and Robbie, and Stacey Jones, Toopi looked like a version of Warrior Henry Fa'afili.

"They've told me to stay wide, just let the ball come to me.

"There are experienced guys all round," he said.

Toopi will run the right side tonight with former Warrior, 12-test Kiwi and in-form Bulldog Nigel Vagana.

Toopi reckons the nerves will bite before the match.

Before the Parramatta game last week he vomited, unable to keep the butterflies down.

That aside, Toopi said: "It's my biggest game ever - I can't wait."