Terry Holmes of Rugby League Review (Australa) writes.....

Few players have had such a dramatic introduction to Test football as Kevin Iro. He was just 19 years of age when he was plucked out of the Mt. Albert Club in the Aukland competition to play Test Rugby in 1987.

In his Test debut, against Papa New guinea, he scored 20 points from three tries and four goals, to set a new record for a Kiwi making his international debut. A few days later, he was one of the stars in New Zealand’s 13-6 shock victory over the star-studded Australian Kangaroos line up. Iro and his fellow Kiwi Centre, Dean Bell, caused plenty of headaches for the Aussies, easily outplaying the more experienced opposition centres Brett Kenny and Gene Miles. Incredibly all four centres would go on to play for Wigan.

It was no wonder that New Zealand coach Graham Lowe would snap up the services of Iro for Wigan, the club he was coaching at the time. The Kiwi sensation signed up by the cherry and whites in September 1987.

“Graham (Lowe) knew I was going to England with the junior Kiwis, so he asked me to play the off-season with Wigan.” Said Iro.

Iro would go on to play in 22 games for Wigan in 1987/88, scoring eight tries and kick seven goals. His first try for his new club came in the john Player Special Trophy knock-out competition where Wigan eliminated Castleford 26-16 in front of 9,513 at Central Park. It was an incredible season for Iro, scoring two tries in Wigan’s 32-12 win over Halifax in the Challenge Cup final played before 94,273 spectators at Wembley Stadium. He scored two more when Wigan successfully defended the trophy twelve months late with a 27-0 whitewash of St. Helens and a further two in 1990 when Wigan outclassed Warrington 36-14. But Iro couldn’t cross the try line in 1991 when Wigan made it four wins in a row when they defeated St. Helens 13-8. Iro played 25 matches for Wigan in 1988/89, 26 matches in 1989/90 and 27 in 1990/91. In total he appeared in 100 games for the Central Park outfit.

“Playing with Wigan was an awesome experience. We won every competition and I was fortunate to be at the club at the right time. The fans were great and they made so much noise,” said Iro.

With his contract running out in 1991, Iro headed to Australia to play with Manly in 1991 and 1992 (24 games) after playing back-to-back.

“I just needed a break. I’d had enough of playing back-to-back football. The New Zealand Rugby League had this stupid ruling that players had to go back and play in the local competition unless they had played in at least six Test matches or made two tours,” he said.

“Thankfully Tony Kemp took them to court and that opened the door for everyone to go and play full time. If that had been the case all along, I would have played for Canterbury in 1987 because they were interested in me. That would meant that I probably would not have gone to Wigan.”

From 1992 until 1996, Iro played 122 games for Leeds after the club persuaded him to join a number of ex-Wigan players that had made the switch, including Andy Goodway, Andy Gregory, Shaun Wane and Ellery Hanley. With his brother Tony Iro joining the newly formed Hunter Marriners in the 1997 Super League competition, Kevin was asked to join the club because they were looking for a centre. After only making four appearances for the new club because of injury, he joined the Aukland Warriors in 1998 after the Marriners folded due to the unification of the game in Australia.

“I injured myself playing for the Cook Islands in the 1997 Super League Nines, I came back to play in the World Club Challenge. I went over to Aukland because I still had a year left on my contract with Super League,” said Iro.

After just one season in which he played 16 matches, Iro returned to England to link up with St. Helens where his close friend Ellery Hanley was coaching. After 83 games for Saints from 1999 until 2001, Kevin Iro retired. Even though he appeared in 31 Tests for New Zealand, Iro was honoured to captain the Cook Islands in the 2000 World Cup.

These days, he is heavily involved with the Cook Islands Rugby League and has lived on the Island over the past few years.

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