\u201cMy dad\u2019s a high chief, so that\u2019s something that\u2019s an important role in Samoa. I didn\u2019t want to disrespect him in any way by saying I wanted to play Kiwis because I didn\u2019t like Samoa or anything like that. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he saw me after I told him that I got named in the team, he just came up and hugged me, and he hugged me for ages, like he\u2019s never done that to me. For him to be on the same page as me was pretty cool. For him to back me like that, yeah, it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacob Laban has received his maiden call-up for the Kiwis. \u00a9 Photo: Andrew Cornaga \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Laban said representing Samoa was always going to be on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a conversation with my dad, and I was leaning more towards the Kiwis. My dad, since he\u2019s Samoan and he\u2019s a Matai, I had a feeling he might favour Samoa, but he gave me the talk and told me that New Zealand gave me everything, my career; it\u2019s given me a life. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor him to say that to me was like an ease off my shoulders a bit, and I\u2019m just happy that we\u2019re on the same page and not walking on eggshells around him now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laban admitted he was \u201cstarstruck\u201d when he received the call from Jones that he was selected for New Zealand.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI was cleaning, and he called me, and I was like, \u2018it\u2019s either going to be really good or very bad.\u2019 So it was really good. And I\u2019m just happy for my bro Tanner [Stowers-Smith] as well. Two years ago we were playing for Kiwis A\u2019s. Fast-track that, and we\u2019re in the Kiwis squad now, so yeah, I\u2019m just happy me and him go through.\u201d<\/p>\n Laban was instrumental in the Warriors\u2019 best regular season record of 18 wins this year, finishing level with minor premiers Penrith on 42 points.<\/p>\n However, the edge player feels he has more to prove after an underwhelming NRL finals<\/a> showing, in which the Warriors exited with consecutive losses.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had a good year, but overall I reckon I just didn\u2019t step up when it mattered. It\u2019s something that I learned the hard way and sucks that I had to do it that way, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Laban said the disappointment has lit a fire in him to perform in the high-pressure environment of a World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s almost like right my wrongs, but then again if I worry about that too much then I\u2019ll probably be doing more wrong things. So I reckon the Kiwis opportunity, I\u2019ll just try and take it with both hands. I know that the boys will love and support whatever I do and yeah, just be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Laban said he is particularly excited to perform the haka, having discussed it with Kiwis and Warriors teammate Erin Clark,<\/p>\n \u201cMe and Erin having a chat earlier on this year saying, \u2018oh, like how was the Kiwis haka?\u2019 And he was just telling me it was mean, like just amps you up, it\u2019s like another pre-workout on a different level.\u201d<\/p>\n Laban was caught off-guard when asked about the historic Kiwis tradition of the new players having to perform the haka in their undies.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of that. I\u2019m happy I\u2019m not the only debut, I got my bro Tanner there with me, so he can do it with me. He\u2019ll stand in the front, I\u2019ll stand behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kiwis\u2019 opening World Cup fixture is against the Kangaroos on October 15.<\/p>\n Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMy dad\u2019s a high chief, so that\u2019s something that\u2019s an important role in Samoa. I didn\u2019t want to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,204014,3937,37872,83474,10542,177301,88834,16719,2174,2209,9064,2959,54173,807,57423,14731,111,139,69,1523,13117,6327,5902,20153,213,102,377,80],"class_list":["post-622939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-blessing","tag-chief","tag-chooses","tag-choosing","tag-cup","tag-debutant","tag-detailed","tag-emotional","tag-exchange","tag-father","tag-fathers","tag-high","tag-jacob","tag-kiwis","tag-laban","tag-league","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-represent","tag-rugby","tag-samoa","tag-samoan","tag-sports","tag-with","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Jacob Laban admitted he was “starstruck” when he got the call-up from Kiwis coach Stacey Jones (pictured). \u00a9 Photo: Andrew Cornaga \/ Photosport<\/p>\n