New Zealand star Katelyn Vahaakolo joked that King Charles III “actually wanted that hug” as she detailed the second the Black Ferns embraced the 75-year-old Monarch this week.
The Black Ferns met the King at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday as they ready for his or her Take a look at towards England at Allianz Stadium, and Vahaakolo’s fellow winger Ayesha Leti-I’iga took the chance to ask him for a hug.
“A hug? Why not,” King Charles responded earlier than being enveloped by the gamers.
Talking after New Zealand’s 24-12 defeat to the Crimson Roses on Saturday, wherein she scored each of her facet’s two tries, Vahaakolo praised Leti-I’iga for having the braveness to ask the query.
“That’s simply her pure persona,” she stated. “However I truly suppose the King actually wanted that hug.
“Simply his smile was so real and I’m glad we have now team-mates like her, who can, I assume, make it a bit extra chill.
“I assume he in all probability felt like he might simply be regular and yeah, I believed that was actually cool.”
Fixture
Girls’s Internationals
England Womens
New Zealand Womens
Vahaakolo took her Take a look at tally to fifteen tries in solely 11 matches with a second-half double on the newly renamed Allianz Stadium in south-west London.
Though the guests dominated possession and territory for big durations, the winger’s intervention got here too late as England had been already 24 factors to the great by the point she crossed the whitewash for the primary time.
Nonetheless, regardless of admitting that the Black Ferns are “sore losers”, Vahaakolo was delighted with the best way that her team-mates performed towards the world’s primary staff and believes they’ve improved within the 10 months since they misplaced 33-12 towards the identical opposition in Auckland.
“I feel that we’ve grown a lot as a staff from the final time versus England and it was actually cool to see that development switch onto the sector,” Vahaakolo stated.
“I feel within the first half we might have been a bit extra, I assume, intentional with our depth. They bought a couple of factors in and I feel that sort of put us on the again burner.
“However within the second half I actually thought we got here out far more dominant. We actually lifted our tempo. So, though we misplaced, I’m very, very pleased with our staff.”
