Vodafone Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak will be among a host of former New Zealand teammates surrounding legendary Thomas Leuluai when he ends his decorated 20-season career leading the Kiwis against the Leeds Rhinos at Headingley on Saturday (6.00pm kick-off local time; 6.00am Sunday NZT).
Watene-Zelezniak linked up with Leuluai in the last two years of his 40-Test career including the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
The sole Vodafone Warrior in the 2022 RLWC squad has been named on an extended bench for the World Cup warm-up match on Saturday; he's set to share fullback duties with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who's soon to be a Warrior again soon.
Kiwi head coach Michael Maguire has named a powerful line-up for the Leeds encounter including 10 players who were Kiwi teammates during Leuluai’s 2003-2017 international career – Jordan Rapana, Peta Hiku, Kieran Foran, Jesse Bromwich, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Kenny Bromwich, Isaac Liu, Joseph Tapine, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Dean Whare.
After Leuluai announced his decision to retire at the end of the 2022 Super League season, Maguire invited the 37-year-old to finish his playing days with a poignant final appearance in the New Zealand jersey.
Making their New Zealand debuts on Saturday will be Canberra centre Sebastian Kris and Canterbury Bankstown hooker Jeremy Marshall-King plus Willie Isa, the ex-Toa Samoa international. The 32-year-old joins his Wigan teammate Leuluai and 2012-2017 Kiwi Whare – now with Les Catalans – as one of the three Super League guest players.
The Kiwis will be without the suspended Jared Waerea-Hargreaves plus fullback Joseph Manu. Also not considered were Penrith’s NRL premiership-winning trio James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota and Scott Sorensen as well as Parramatta’s beaten grand finalists Dylan Brown, Isaiah Papali’i and Marata Niukore. They’re due to join the squad in Leeds on Saturday in time to watch the game.
Saturday’s occasion reprises the 2015 Headingley encounter between the Kiwis and Leeds when the Rhinos emotionally farewelled New Zealanders Ali Lauitiiti and Kylie Leuluai in a game the visitors won 34-16.
This time not only will the Kiwis give Leuluai a special farewell but the Rhinos will also do the same for one of their fan favourites Adam Cuthbertson (37), who has finished his career after more than 300 appearances in the NRL and the Super League.
Leuluai has made almost 500 top level appearances including his 40 Tests, more than 330 games for Wigan and 85 in two stints with the Vodafone Warriors after starting out with the club as a 17-year-old in 2003.
Saturday’s match further cements a link between the two opponents and the famous Headingley ground which now dates back 115 years. It was on October 26, 1907, that the trailblazing All Golds beat Leeds 8-2 in the first of 12 matches between two. New Zealand holds an 11-1 winning advantage.
- It has been confirmed Saturday’s match has been picked up by Sky’s streaming platform Sky Sport Next. It will be available to view on www.youtube.com free of charge on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuhXSy_OCvE
- Spark Sport is the official broadcast partner of RLWC21. It will cover all 61 official Rugby League World Cup matches live with free-to-air delayed coverage on Three and ThreeNow.
NEW ZEALAND KIWIS v LEEDS RHINOS
Headingley, Leeds
Saturday, October 8, 6.00pm
NEW ZEALAND KIWIS
1 CHARNZE NICOLL-KLOKSTAD
2 JORDAN RAPANA
3 PETA HIKU
4 SEBASTIAN KRIS
5 RONALDO MULITALO
6 KIERAN FORAN
7 THOMAS LEULUAI (c)
8 JESSE BROMWICH
9 BRANDON SMITH
10 NELSON ASOFA-SOLOMONA
11 KENNY BROMWICH
12 BRITON NIKORA
13 ISAAC LIU
Interchange:
14 JAHROME HUGHES
15 JOSEPH TAPINE
16 DALLIN WATENE-ZELEZNIAK
17 JEREMY MARSHALL-KING
18 DEAN WHARE
19 WILLIE ISA
Head coach: MICHAEL MAGUIRE
