Jason Taumalolo was always going to be the centre of attention when facing the Kiwis for Tonga, and he led them to a stunning victory.

﻿In the wake of Tonga's history-making win over New Zealand, Jason Taumalolo has apologised to Kiwis coach David Kidwell for the way his controversial defection played out, but is unsure whether he will wear the black jersey again.

Speaking soon after Tonga's stunning 28-22 victory in the Rugby League World Cup Pool B decider in Hamilton on Saturday evening, the superstar loose forward said he had spoken to Kidwell for the first time since last month's drama, which had left a sour taste because it blindsided the New Zealand camp by coming just a day before their squad announcement for the tournament.

"I apologised about how things went," Taumalolo revealed.

ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GETTY IMAGES Jason Taumalolo's presence was set early on, being the new leader of Tonga's Sipi Tau.

"And he was pretty good to talk to, he said how happy he was for me to represent my country of heritage, and he said 'good luck', and that was about it. Kiddy's been a great coach for New Zealand throughout the World Cup, and I just wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament."

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ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GETTY IMAGES With a heap of metres eaten, Jason Taumalolo was able to spark the Tongans to big things.

Having avoided any media duties in the leadup to what was always going to be a match of epic proportions, Taumalolo finally spoke about regrets he had about his switch of allegiances.

"I definitely could've handled it a lot better, to be honest," the 24-year-old said of his decision of who to play for, adding it was post-season celebrations as the reason he hadn't reached out to Kidwell earlier.

"Half the reason was I was still blind with Mad Monday then, so that probably didn't help. Obviously being drunk and handling phones doesn't go too well, that's got me in some pretty bad situations."

His shying away had Taumalolo labelled things along the lines of 'not man enough', but he said everyone was entitled to their opinions, and he was just trying to not get too caught up in it, in a match which he didn't feel extra revved up for.

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"What people have said about me leading up to the game, it doesn't really bother me," he said.

"I knew there would be a lot said on paper, and a lot of people talking, and I didn't want that to get in the way of my preparation for the game.

"Nothing's personal to me, for those who know me properly, I like to take everything as one big joke, so I didn't look too much into this week's game as everyone else did, thinking it'd be a big grudge match.

"Avoiding Australia [in a potential semifinal] was probably the main reason why it was a big occasion."

The 191cm, 113kg wrecking ball was also able to clear up the speculation that his reason for leaving the Kiwis ranks was related to Kidwell's standing down in May of Jesse Bromwich and Kevin Proctor for drug-taking.

"I'm totally behind Kiddy's decision," he said. "I don't take drugs, and I don't condone it either, so I stand by his decision."

However, whether Taumalolo represents New Zealand again in the future, is still well up in the air.

"That's not my decision, obviously that's theirs," he said. "I'm not too worried about that at the moment, I'm pretty keen on seeing how far we can progress as a country in this World Cup."

Taumalolo was certainly front and centre of Tonga's efforts in becoming the first tier-two nation to knock off one of the big three, topping the team's metres stats with 163 from 14 runs, and also making 21 tackles in his 56 minutes, all after the leadership group had decided he would lead the Sipi Tau.

"I was a bit nervous at the time, but it was an opportunity I'll probably never get to do again, so for me to do that was very humbling, and was a privilege," he said.

"I had to do a couple of warmups in the changing room and practise my actions in the bathroom."

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