League: Rapper with greatest hits for PNG

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves says many people are surprised to meet him after witnessing his bruising style of play. Photo / Getty Images

About an hour after the victory over England in Wellington last Saturday night, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was entertaining his fellow Kiwis on the team bus.

Killing time while he and the rest of the non-playing squad members waited for their teammates to emerge, the Roosters hard man belted out a rap on the bus's PA system.

Such is the nature of that musical genre that many of the words he used aren't suitable for a publication such as the Herald.

But the general message seemed to be that a) the Kiwis are a very fine rugby league team; b) England aren't such a good rugby league team and c) Having beaten England the Kiwis players were now in a good position to go out and forge successful short-term relationships with all of the city's desirable young females.

"I had to go with what I had, which wasn't very good," he says with a laugh when asked what it was all about. "I thought I had a bit of a career in [music] but I got told pretty early that I didn't have anything. My confidence took a dive after that."

Hardly. While the Herald's league correspondent doesn't claim to be a music critic, he does own an NWA album, once saw Cypress Hill and has seen the movie 8 Mile. With that qualification, Waerea-Hargreaves' effort was actually pretty decent.

Hidden talent is a bit of a theme for a player whose Raging Bull on-field persona has drawn comparisons with Gorden Tallis.

The Rotorua-born 21-year-old, for instance, was once a promising golfer - and once spent an off-season in Rwanda building houses for children orphaned by the African nation's 1995 genocide. Not exactly what you'd expect from someone whose high-octane game is characterised by an utter lack of regard for his personal safety - not to mention the reputations of his opponents.

"I've had a few people come up to me, they watch the style of footy I play and after I've played a game of touch with them or been talking around them, they tell me I'm not the person they expected me to be," he says.

Clearly there is more to this guy than meets the eye.

The 2008 Rwanda trip with an organisation called Village of Hope "was one of the best experiences of my life", he says.

"I was definitely fortunate. I was very overwhelmed to even be asked to go. We were just trying to help out as much as possible and do as much as we could. They had no idea who we were or what we did, they didn't really care. They just gave us a spade and shovel and said 'get to work'."

Known for dishing out the pain, Waerea-Hargreaves was on the wrong end of a highlight reel moment when he was knocked senseless by Simon Dwyer in the Roosters' remarkable NRL playoff victory over the Tigers last month.

"Everyone has asked me 'what did it feel like?' I've just said I love it. You've got to look at it in a positive way. He got me a beauty. It was all good, all legit.

"You've just got to have a laugh and say 'if you want to try to give it then you've got to take it as well'. You've just got to giggle about it."

Mirth certainly seems to be something he inspires in his teammates. Not long before his impromptu rap, Waerea-Hargreaves was literally bouncing off the walls of the Kiwis' changing room. Having been left out of the matches against Samoa and England, he seemed ready to explode.

"That's an understatement - itching to play," he says before tomorrow's match against the Kumuls, when he will come off the bench to add to his five test caps and finally release that pent-up energy.

"This is a massive game, playing in front of my hometown and in front of my family. I've been given this opportunity and I'll be making the most of it.

"I'm just really keen to get out there. Hopefully I get the chance to prove that I'm willing to do anything for the black and white jersey."