Charismatic Kiwi Brandon Smith has paid a glowing tribute to Leeds Rhinos supporters after they came out in their thousands to watch New Zealand in action.
Over 9,000 fans turned out to watch Michael Maguire's side continue their preparations for the World Cup as they destroyed a patched-up Leeds side 74-0. Despite the result, the Rhinos faithful produced an enjoyable atmosphere as they got to witness the haka twice, as well as some of the sport's best players on the planet.
After the game, Smith jumped into the crowd to meet fans and to give his shirt to one young fan who he had been in contact with ahead of the game.
"There's a little fella that sent me a video and some nice, encouraging words and said he was a big fan," Smith revealed. His dad reached out to me as well. I saw them holding up a big sign, apparently his nickname is 'Little Cheese' and he plays dummy half as well so I thought 'why not' I've a few jerseys I can play in so hopefully that makes his day and is something special for him.
"It was awesome, I can't believe how loud it is here. It was a pleasure to play in front of a crowd like that. They didn't have to cheer us on but they did. It was pretty cool, I've always know the English fans have been pretty enthusiastic b******* and I think we got out of the game what we wanted to as a team."
The blowout score was a shock to many though Smith, who has friends within the Leeds camp, insisted the scoreboard may have had as much to do with the fact several of the Leeds players who took to the field had just come back from an end of season break in Ibiza.
"I wasn't too surprised because I knew about ten of those boys had been on the p*** for seven days. I know a few of the players and I'd seen their instagrams and stuff but they still manned up and played against us so I knew they'd be worst for wear.
"The score was a little inflated because of that but we played a tough game, stuck to our processes and played pretty mature. I think Michael Maguire will be pretty pleased with the zero points."
New Zealand play against Ireland at Headingley later this month in what will be their final group game, and he's hopeful a similar sized crowd will come out for the contest.
"Hopefully they turn out like that for us again and not just because it was a Leeds game. The English fans are just fans of sport in general, it's not soccer. I was happy with them."
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