New Zealand star “loves” playing at Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Stadium

Last night New Zealand played their second game of 2022 at Headingley.

The Kiwis played their World Cup warm-up against Leeds Rhinos at the ground and returned the stadium last night in their third and final group game of the tournament hoping to secure a 100% record ahead of the quarter-finals in which they’re set to meet Fiji in a repeat of the 2017 World Cup quarter-finals in which they fell to a shock defeat.

There was no shock last night as the Kiwis ploughed through Ireland scoring tries galore in a 48-10 triumph over Ireland whose tournament is now over.

The star of the show was Kiwi halfback Jahrome Hughes who scored New Zealand’s first try prior to assisting the next three.

He then crossed for a second in the second half and rightly picked up the Man of the Match.

After the game he spoke about the experience of playing at Headingley noting that he loves playing at the Stadium: “It’s good, I love it actually. I’ve played two games here in this trip and I love it here. It’s a great stadium, both times we’ve played here we’ve had a good, vocal crowd so the atmosphere is cool.
“I love playing at Headingley.”

Sadly for Leeds fans it’s unlikely that they’ll see him at Headingley in a Leeds shirt any time soon with Hughes settled at Melbourne Storm as a key player in their spine.