WHEN Sekope Kepu was a little - but very solid - boy growing up in a New Zealand boarding school, he would never let on to his mates what he was really thinking as they all watched Australian sides play Kiwi teams.

"Every time I used to watch the Wallabies I would get nervous, have butterflies," said the former student at Wesley College from where a number of New Zealand rugby greats have graduated - Jonah Lomu among them.

"I knew in my dad's briefcase was my Australian passport. I always sat there, the quiet one at boarding school, hoping the Wallabies win and the Brumbies beat the Crusaders in Super 12 in that [2004] final they won."

Kepu, now 22, obviously kept the secret of his allegiance well. As soon as the Sydney-born son of Tongan parents had finished captaining the First XV at the school - the name of which is proudly tattooed on his right shoulder - he was sucked into New Zealand rugby, representing his adopted nation at under 17, 19 and 21.

In 2005, at the under-19 world championships in South Africa and under the advice of All Blacks scrum doctor Mike Cron, Kepu switched from No.8 to prop. There he quickly emerged as a future star, impressing for Counties Manukau in the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup until a shoulder injury last year stalled his career.

Kepu's misfortune caused him to miss out on a Super 14 contract in New Zealand for this year and he wants to show Kiwi rugby just what they have passed up.

Kepu has been rewarded for his gumption to return to Australia - he was raised in Glen Innes in northern NSW before his family moved to New Zealand - to try to re-boot his playing career with the NSW Waratahs.

And that reward came yesterday when he was named as the starting loose-head prop in the NSW side that leaves for New Zealand today to play the Highlanders at Carisbrook - the "House of Pain" - in Dunedin tomorrow night.

Kepu's Super 14 debut comes after tight-head Al Baxter was ruled out due to a concussion he sustained during last Saturday's game against the Chiefs. Matt Dunning will switch from No.1 to Baxter's No.3 slot, while for the starting loose-head role Kepu beat Benn Robinson, who is not in the 22, and tight-head Dan Palmer was picked on the bench.

The one other change to the side was the rotation of Will Caldwell into the second row for Dean Mumm.

The 126kg but lightning-fast Kepu could not hide his excitement about playing his first Super 14 game against players who might have become his teammates had he not slipped through the New Zealand system.

He had no idea he would play against the players he chatted with last Saturday in Canberra after the Brumbies-Highlanders game, which he watched after starring for the Junior Waratahs against the Brumby Runners in a curtain-raiser.

"I hung around and watched the game. And I said hopefully I will see you guys next week," said Kepu, who was advised against returning to Australia on the claim that his tutelage as a prop would be limited here.

"They told me that I wasn't going to get the quality of scrum coaching that I do get in New Zealand, and that moving here would be a bit of a challenge because I would have to work myself up through a system again."

Tomorrow's game will partly answer who was right. He will face an arsenal of Highlanders props whom he he knows - tight-head Clint Newland (130kg), loose-head Jamie Mackintosh (129kg) and back-up Chris King (116kg).

"That is probably to my advantage, that I have played against them. It is nothing new. I am not going to take anything from them," Kepu said, but then warned that he would "be the hunter rather than the hunted".

NSW: Lachie Turner, Timana Tahu, Ben Jacobs, Tom Carter, Lote Tuqiri, Kurtley Beale, Brett Sheehan, Wycliff Palu, Phil Waugh (capt), Rocky Elsom, Dan Vickerman, Will Caldwell, Matt Dunning, Adam Freier, Sekope Kepu. Reserves: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Dan Palmer, Dean Mumm, Beau Robinson, Luke Burgess, Sam Harris, Alfi Mafi.

AAP