Mererangi Paul (born 29 October 1998) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. She plays for Chiefs Manawa in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition and for Counties Manukau in the

Farah Palmer Cup The Farah Palmer Cup (formerly known as Women's Provincial Championship until 2016), is the highest level domestic women's rugby union competition in New Zealand and is named after the former Black Ferns captain, Farah Palmer. This contest is hel ...

Early career

Netball & Touch rugby

Paul played for the Northern Mystics in the ANZ Premiership, she debuted for them in the

2017 ANZ Premiership season The 2017 ANZ Premiership season was the inaugural season of Netball New Zealand's ANZ Premiership. All matches were broadcast on Sky Sport (New Zealand). With a team coached by Reinga Bloxham, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, ...

. She also competed for the New Zealand Women's Open squad for the 2019

Touch Football World Cup The first Touch Football World Cup tournament was held in 1988. Touch football and the Touch football world cup are monitored by the international governing body for touch the FIT (Federation of International Touch). The Touch world cup has been ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Rugby sevens

Paul played her first sevens game for Rotoiti three weeks prior to Auckland's Red Bull Ignite7 competition in 2018. She was named as one of the top three women during the tournament and earned a spot at the

Black Ferns Sevens The New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team represents New Zealand in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. The team has participated in all rounds of the World Rugby Wom ...

National Development Camp for 2019. Paul also competed for the Surge Women's team in the 2020 Red Bull Ignite7's tournament in December. She played Fly-half for Counties Manukau in the

and has also represented Bay of Plenty in sevens.

Rugby career

Paul joined Chiefs Manawa in 2022 as part of their wider training squad before making her first start for the side during the

2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season The 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season was the second season of Super Rugby Aupiki (known as Sky Super Rugby Aupiki for sponsorship reasons), a professional women's rugby union club competition organised by New Zealand Rugby. The competition ran from 2 ...

. She started on the wing in her debut for the Chiefs against Hurricanes Poua in the opening match of the season. She later scored a hat-trick in her sides win over the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in round two of the competition. In the third and final round, an error from

Matatū Matatū is a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Matatū represents the South Island, specifically the regions covered by the Crusaders and the Highlanders. They are governed ...

helped Paul score her team's first points. She scored in the Chiefs semi-final win against Hurricanes Poua, and also featured in their loss to Matatū in the final. Paul was one of 34-players who received Black Ferns contracts on 17 April 2023. In June, she was named in the Black Ferns 30-player squad to compete in the Pacific Four Series and O’Reilly Cup. She scored two tries on her debut against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 29 June 2023 at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. At the Pacific Four Series in July, she scored two tries in her sides 21–52 victory over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

References

External links

Chiefs Manawa Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Mererangi 1998 births Living people New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand netball players New Zealand female touch players New Zealand female rugby sevens players New Zealand women's international rugby union players