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As Welsh players and fans were celebrating a hard-fought 24-22 victory against South Africa on Saturday afternoon, another story had unfolded on the pitch with Hadleigh Parkes not only making his debut for the home side but also putting in a man of the match performance.
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The New Zealand born centre, who is 30, gathered two tries in his stand-out performance and was extremely happy when he came off the field. “It’s a dream come true. It’s a privilege to have played here in front of 65,000,” Parkes said.
“To score two tries on my debut, well you dream of these things happening. It’s an amazing feeling. Three years ago, I would not have believed this would happen. You hear about the old Cardiff Arms Park and the singing. I made an effort with the anthem and I hope it went ok.”
Two-try Hadleigh is toast of Principality Stadium https://t.co/dRa5pBatHz pic.twitter.com/gxNzOcvWZS
— Welsh Rugby Union ? (@WelshRugbyUnion) December 3, 2017
Speaking of his breakout performance, head coach and fellow Kiwi Warren Gatland, was his usual deadpan self in speaking of his star man, “he did ok, yeah.
“He’s done great. It was a fantastic pick-up for the first try. Some nice kick throughs and stuff. He’s saying in the changing room he has a 100 percent record, so he’s pretty happy with himself.”
Before making his debut, his parents and friends from New Zealand had sent video messages of support to Parkes who was later shown the clips and became very emotional, which you can see below.
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