There is perhaps no greater honour in sport than representing your country and Wigan Warriors youngster Kai Pearce-Paul got to do that on Saturday as England beat Greece 94-4 in his test debut.
After the game, he reflected on the experience saying: “It was an unreal feeling to rep my country and in front of the family. The crowd was great.”
He also looked back on his journey from playing the game at amateur level in London all the way to the England side in a World Cup: “It’s been a long journey and it’s something you can only dream of playing at Croydon Hurricanes down in London as a young kid you are thinking you want to play for your country and today it came true.”
That said, he did admit that it took some time for the realisation that he was representing England in a World Cup to hit him.
He said: “It took a while for it to hit me but when I ran out on that pitch and heard the crowd roaring it became so real, it was an unbelievable feeling.”
A highly rated young player tipped to join Newcastle Knights in 2024, he was alongside another exciting youngster one who is already at Newcastle in the shape of Dom Young.
Pearce-Paul was full of praise for the England winger who has scored eight tries in three games for England in the World Cup: “All you’ve got to do is watch the game and you’ll see how good Dom is. He’s so consistent. He’s a very dangerous player, he can score tries and set tries up. He creates great hype which is what the fans love. They love watching players like him. When he catches the ball you hear the crowd roar. He’s unpredictable, you know when he gets the ball he’s going to do something special.”