Wakefield Trinity fan favourite Jazz Tevaga has revealed that his wife had to pull him out of the pub in order for him to return down under to represent Samoa at the Rugby League World Cup.

Tevaga got the call-up to represent his nation just after Wakefield Trinity made history and won the Super League Grand Final, knocking off Warrington Wolves to end a 58-year wait for a league title.

His call-up represented the only call-up of any Wakefield player with England’s Trinity options all unavailable through injury or surgery. It also meant that Tevaga was the only Super League player in the Samoa squad with the 31-year-old having admitted that he feared his move to Super League would signal the end of his international career.

“That was an in-house joke last year,” he revealed to The Daily Telegraph.

“The boys were sort of saying that was my last tour before I headed over to the Super League. So when I got back, when I come back into camp, the boys were like, ‘He’s back! This is the real farewell tour!’”

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Wakefield Trinity man pulled out of the pub for World Cup

At 31, it may well be Tevaga’s last World Cup but it’s one that he almost missed on account of his four-day celebrations after Trinity’s Grand Final win, with the loose forward confirming those celebrations went from ‘Saturday to Tuesday, non-stop’.

“The missus, she wasn’t too happy, to be honest, because she had to do all the packing,” Tevaga revealed.

“She literally had to pull me out of the pub because we had the flight (back to Australia) the next day.

“So I was almost this close to pulling the pin on the World Cup because I was so stuck in the parade and celebrations over there.”

Tevaga was an integral part of Wakefield’s success, even scoring a try in the Grand Final, though he admitted he was surprised by his call-up to the Samoan squad.

“I actually wasn’t expecting the call from Ben, but when I got it, of course I couldn’t say no,” he said.

“He called me a couple of weeks ago and let me know that I was sort of in contention. So once he gave me the call, I sort of cut back on the beers and locked in!”

Tevaga also joked about his Super League winners ring in contrast to that of some of his Samoan teammates’ NRL winners rings, stating: “We call them Temu rings, not as good as the NRL ones, but a ring’s a ring.”

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