League: Rapid elevation to Warrior

New Warriors left wing Misi Taulapapa can cover 40m in 3.7s. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Misi Taulapapa is slightly older than your average NRL debutant.

At 24, he's been playing league for only three years.

"They've been three good years," he smiles, reflecting on his rapid elevation through the grades after a cousin invited the former Waitemata rugby player to watch a training session.

Taulapapa was an Auckland under-21 rugby rep and had been playing rugby for money in Ireland, but got hooked on league during a trip home. The training was harder and so was the physical contact, and he liked that.

He played one reserve-grade game for Richmond, went straight up to the Fox Memorial team and after one good appearance was selected by the Brothers coach, Bernie Perenara, for the Bartercard Cup. By the end of 2004 he had made the New Zealand A side and from there the Warriors.

Taulapapa said Perenara and Brothers captain Ricky Henry taught him a lot. He tried to model his play on that of Brent Webb, but Webb was a unique talent and it wasn't easy.

There was no way Taulapapa expected to get an NRL chance this quickly. He said he "didn't really watch" the game in Canberra where Auckland Lions teammate Patrick Ah Van suffered a tear in a shoulder joint, the injury that gave him the opportunity.

He is the third left wing used this year (Ah Van had replaced Manu Vatuvei, who has a hamstring tear).

In rugby Taulapapa was a second five-eighths, wing or fullback but all his league experience is on the flank, though usually the right.

With a 40m speed of 3.7s, he should have no problem scooting away from the chasers if given the ball with space.