Kruise Leeming believes he is suited to the biggest games as he made his plea to Shaun Wane for a place in England’s World Cup squad.
For the second consecutive year, Leeming featured against England for the Combined Nations All Stars.
Although on the losing side, the Leeds Rhinos hooker brought a visible lift to the team when he came off the interchange bench.
England coach Wane has stressed that he will pick his squad this autumn based on who he thinks can deliver for him in a World Cup final, and Leeming hopes that could be him.
“I seem to love these big games and a higher stage, it seems to bring the best out of me,” Leeming told League Express.
“Some people perform better at club level but I perform better in the higher-stakes games, when the Sky Sports cameras are there or there’s a lot of pressure, a full crowd, loads of hype around the game.
“There are still some things for me to work on but hopefully what I have done is shown him (Wane) that I don’t crumble on the big stage.”
Wane said ahead of the match that he believed James Roby, who has retired from international duty, and Michael McIlorum were the two standout hookers in Super League so far this season.
He said McIlorum was the best of the four England-qualified hookers on display on Saturday too.
“I’m a big fan or Daryl (Clark) and a big fan of Kruise but I thought Micky was the best,” said Wane.
“Paul McShane can do a lot better than he did. Micky was the standout best. Daryl and Kruise did what we expected, which is run.”
However, Leeming stressed that his focus for the All Stars was not on proving a point to the England boss.
“It was about representing my Swazi heritage and making my mum really proud,” said Leeming.
“To make her proud and put a smile on her face means more to me than anything.”
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