“Friend, you should come and try the captain’s escape.” You feel so unhappy!”

NRL.com’s correspondent sits in a ground-floor boardroom at York’s posh Grand Hotel with Samoan switch Gordon Chan Kum Tong, newly installed as the social media star for Siva Tau’s clash with England’s Mikey Lewis on Sunday past.

The two dummy halves infamously touched foreheads during the pre-match ritual, with Lewis mouthing the words “let’s go” inches from the camera.

A plump 22-year-old, Manly’s Chan Kum Tong is no Samoan talisman.

He made his Test debut only a year ago. Finding his way into rugby league’s most Tik Toked and Instagrammed caravan wasn’t on his radar…

“We practice it every captain’s run and when we practiced it I was backwards… like ‘yeah… nah’,” he says with a smile, insisting he was instead excited to be playing alongside childhood friend Izack Tago in Wigan, one of the most famous rugby league towns.

“After the national anthem, the emotions took over and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’ and somehow I got to the front and ran into Mikey Lewis.

“It’s a ‘moment’ thing, right? The emotions were unreal and I could tell there was no tension. We were playing for our country. Siva Tau is something you do in preparation to go to war. Obviously, I was going to war with our brothers.

“I was checking my phone after the game and I was getting notifications like crazy, so I’m just trying not to do that because we’ve got another job to do this weekend.”

When 2024 Man of Steel Lewis was recording a video for England’s digital team on the field at the end of their 34-18 win, Chan Kum Tong walked over and presented his opponent with a necklace.

It was an ula pu’a, “which is a sign of respect,” explained Chan Kum Tong. “After the game, I said I was grateful to be playing against him.”

The Canterbury junior says he “grew up watching Lewis, which is hard to understand considering the Hull KR star is just a year older at 23.

But Lewis has made over 100 first-team appearances since 2019. Chan Kum Tong, with 12 appearances, was just 17 when Lewis took his bow.

“I like his job in Super League,” insists the Samoan. “I’m still young, but I’ve watched his highlights. You look at this resume, he’s done it all, right?”

Siva Tau will be the focus of the second and final Test at Headingley on Saturday, with even UK rugby union luminaries drawing attention to it and England winning plaudits for standing halfway to meet the ceremonial challenge.

“After Siva Tau is over, it’s like a mental shift where you go back to awareness, which Nigel (Vagana) brought to this camp,” explained Chan Kum Tong.

“We meet, take some breaths in the box, which brings us back, brings us present, and we go again. It’s pretty good… because obviously the emotions are high and it’s like revving the car. You don’t want to overshoot it or you’ll blow the engine.”

The eldest of nine siblings – he says he has so many brothers and sisters that it’s hard to count in his head how many there are of each – and already a father, Chan Kum Tong reflects: “Everything happened so quickly and I I just had to absorb it so quickly.

“Growing up as a Polynesian kid, you always dream of pulling on a shirt for your country and doing that…I was actually star-struck, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

“For me the debut was a reward, a reward for my parents. Obviously, they sacrificed a lot for me, taking me to training, taking me to games.

“It’s my first time going to the UK and the atmosphere was amazing. I couldn’t believe it. Right from the start of the game, you could really feel the emotions of both teams.

“I’m really enjoying my stay here in York. There is a lot of history with the chapel (York Minster), the walk, the bridge, that wall behind us. It’s unreal. I’m just trying to embrace it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

A final game for the team was followed by a final captain’s course. And no, there were no reporters doing Siva Tau.