MELBOURNE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Four years after New Zealand's heartbreaking Rugby League World Cup semi-final defeat by Australia, halfback Jahrome Hughes is still haunted by a missed opportunity to send the Kiwis into the final.
Hughes scored a try and was among New Zealand's best players in the 16-14 loss in 2022, but a speculative grubber kick late in the match squandered a promising attacking opportunity as the Kiwis chased victory.
Hughes has carried the regret ever since and is determined to make amends at this year's World Cup, starting with New Zealand's opener against defending champions Australia in Sydney on Thursday.
"Getting so close in 2022 in the World Cup and losing to Australia in the semi-final, I still hold a bit of fire in my belly from that," Hughes told reporters on Monday.
"I take a lot of blame for losing that game."
Hughes has since established himself among the game's elite playmakers, winning the 2024 Dally M Medal as the National Rugby League's best player with Melbourne Storm and helping New Zealand thrash Australia 30-0 in the 2023 Pacific Championships final on home soil in Hamilton.
But the 32-year-old has not played for his country since 2023, with neck and shoulder injuries wiping out his international prospects.
He said his return to the national squad had rekindled the excitement he felt as a youngster dreaming of representing the Kiwis.
"I've had a couple of years away from them. It just makes yourealise you can't take this jersey for granted," he said.
"I'm one of the older guys now, but I felt like a little kid coming back into camp yesterday and seeing everyone."
New Zealand have not won the World Cup since their breakthrough triumph in 2008, with Australia claiming the last three titles.
Hughes hopes a second World Cup title for the Kiwis could boost the game back home, where rugby union and the All Blacks still dominate.
"Just thinking back to 2008 when I was a kid and seeing how that win made me feel, if we were able to lift that trophy at the end of this World Cup, the things it would do for the kids back home in New Zealand and all the supporters back home, it would be truly special," he said.
In a scheduling quirk, the All Blacks will meet Australia in a rugby union test at Stadium Australia on Saturday, two days after the Kiwis-Kangaroos clash in the same city.
Flyhalf Beauden Barrett said he and his All Blacks teammates would cheer on the Kiwis at Sydney Football Stadium before they knuckle down for the secondBledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies.
"We've got a bit of free time, so it'll be a great spectacle," Barrett told reporters on Monday.
"It's just down the road, too. So, yeah, the town's buzzing."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Stephen Coates)
