Walker steps into Brown's shoes
May 9, 2002

Willie Walker will step into the injured Tony Brown's fly-half spot this weekend for the crucial clash against the Reds at Carisbrook on Saturday.

"Willie has played some good rugby for us this year," Mains said of the 24 year old.

"Willie has trained in that position all week and it has been a big help to him," Mains said. "He is a strong defender and is doing the job."

The only other change in the starting line-up is Romi Ropati coming in for the injured Aisea Tuilevu. He will play on the left wing and Iliesa Tanivula has been switched to the right wing.

Ropati came through tough physical training sessions on Monday and Tuesday.

Mains is looking to his team to finish the preliminary round on a high. "The winners go through to the semi-finals," Mains said.

"I'm very happy that we have got ourselves into this position where we are seriously competing for a place. We only had five home games and we had a number of players new to Super 12 rugby."

Mains was also confident Brown would be available if the Highlanders made the semi-finals next week. "That's one of the things you can never be quite sure about. But the injury is not that bad," Mains said.

Highlanders: Jeff Wilson, Iliesa Tanivula, Ryan Nicholas, Paul Steinmetz, Romi Ropati, Willie Walker, Byron Kelleher, Kelvin Middleton, Craig
Newby, Taine Randell (capt) Simon Maling, Filipo Levi, Carl Hayman, Anton Oliver, Carl Hoeft. Substitutes: Tom Willis, Joe McDonnell, Peter Bowden, Sam Harding, David Gibson, Blair Feeney, Seilala Mapusua.

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