NSW CUP ROUND #6 | More troops back

After impressing for the Vodafone Warriors at the NRL Nines, Ken Maumalo makes his return from injury in the New South Wales Cup tomorrow. Image | www.photosport.co.nz

Author: Richard Becht
Timestamp: Fri 10 Apr 2015, 09:58 AM

Outside backs David Fusitu’a and Ken Maumalo make their returns from injury lay-offs in the Vodafone Warriors’ sixth-round New South Wales Cup encounter against Wests Tigers at Mount Smart Stadium tomorrow (5.15pm kick-off; game day sponsor: SKYCITY).

They join veteran front rower Sam Rapira who had his first outing of the season against the Wyong Roos last weekend after being sidelined with a hamstring injury.

The match provides the second leg of a tripleheader preceded by the NYC team facing the Tigers at 3.15pm and followed by the NRL encounter between the two sides at 7.30pm.

Fusitu’a (20), the club’s 2014 Vodafone NRL Rookie of the Year, starts in the centres in his comeback from offseason shoulder surgery. In 12 NRL appearances last year he scored seven tries and averaged 100 metres a game while he also turned out for both the NSW Cup (three tries in four games) and NYC sides (three tries in two games).

Maumalo (20), a premiership winner with the Vodafone Junior Warriors last year, was named to make his NRL debut in the opening round of the season last month after impressing in the club’s NRL trials and the NRL Nines. Cruelly he was ruled out after picking up a hamstring injury in the team’s final pre-match run and has been out of action since.

Rapira was used off the bench last weekend but is named to start tomorrow. With 169 NRL appearances to his name, he’s one of nine players with first-grade experience in the line-up.

After starting the fifth round in second spot on the ladder, the Vodafone Warriors slipped to eighth after losing 6-42 to Wyong but are one of seven teams on six points filling second to eighth. There’s a four-point gap back to the ninth.

The Tigers are fourth after a 10-12 loss to Penrith last week.