Alex Tulou (born March 21, 1987 in

Faga'alu Faga is a village on the island of Savai'i in Samoa. It is situated on the east coast of the island in the district of Fa'asaleleaga and the electoral district of Fa'asaleleaga 4. References Populated places in Fa'asaleleaga {{Samo ...

, American Samoa) is a rugby union footballer, currently playing in the top French professional rugby competition, the Top 14, for

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. He joined Montpellier in 2011. His usual position is number eight or

Flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

Career

Alex started his school boy rugby at Hastings Boys' High School in the province of Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. He was quickly identified as an up-and-coming young player with tremendous strength, ball skills and speed. Tulou started his career with the Taranaki in the National Provincial Championship and the Hurricanes in the

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. During this time he had a trial for the New Zealand 7's team. In 2010 he signed a two-year contract to play for

Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (; frp, Brégon) is a commune in the Isère department in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. The city had 28,834 inhabitants in 2019 and lies 35 kilometres east-southeast of Lyon. It was formed by the merger of th ...

in the Top 14. He played 15 Top 14 matches (9 starts and 6 as a replacement) for the club in the 2010/11 season, scoring 3 tries, and 4 matches in the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

, scoring one try. Following this he signed for

to replace Jérôme Vallée after he was forced to retire due to injury. He played a further 8 matches for Montpellier in 2010/11 but failed to add to his try tally. During the 2011/12 season, Tulou established himself as a first team regular for Montpellier, starting 19 of the team's 27 league games at Number 8 and was a replacement for 5 more. He scored 9 tries, including the team's first try in their end of season playoff defeat to Castres. Tulou also played in his first

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

matches, scoring one try. In September 2012 it was announced that Tulou had signed a new contract to keep him at

until 2015. Afterwards he signed for French rivals Castres from the 2015-16 season. Afterwards, he rejected a move to

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

side Beziers, he instead signed for another French club Lyon to remain in the Top 14 from the 2020-21 season.

Honours

Club

Castres * Top 14: 2017–18

Notes and references

External links

ESPN Scrum statistics

ERC profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tulou, Alex 1987 births Living people Montpellier Hérault Rugby players CS Bourgoin-Jallieu players