Paul Lusi Perez (born 26 July 1986) is a Samoan

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.

Career

Sevens

In 2005 and 2006, Perez was part of the Samoa sevens side. He was also a member of the Samoan side that played at the

2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2005 Rugby World Cup Sevens or the Melrose Cup was the fourth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held in Hong Kong at Hong Kong Stadium. Fiji defeated New Zealand in the final to take the Melrose Cup for the second time ...

tournament in Hong Kong.

Taranaki

He then joined the 15-man version of the sport, moving to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where he represented between 2006 and 2009. He was also their leading try-scorer in the

2008 Air New Zealand Cup The 2008 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008. This season was the third of the expanded co ...

. However, in May 2010, he was deported back to Samoa after being convicted on two counts of domestic assault on his pregnant partner.

Eastern Province Kings (2010)

He looked set to join

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like e ...

in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition for the 2010–11 season, but visa problems prevented him from making the move to France. Instead, he joined South African provincial side for their 2010 Currie Cup First Division season, scoring six tries in nine appearances to help the Kings win the First Division, but failing to win promotion to the Premier Division. A knee injury then ruled him out of the entire 2011 season.

Sevens and international rugby

In January 2012, it was announced that he signed a six-month deal as a medical joker for Top 14 team

Castres Olympique Castres Olympique () is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system. Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Sta ...

, but visa problems again prevented him from joining up with them. Instead, he was called up by the Samoa Sevens team for several legs of the

2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series The 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 13th annual series of the IRB Sevens World Series tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999– ...

. His good performance in this series lead to a call-up to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

national team for the

2012 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2012 Pacific Nations Cup rugby union tournament was held between the four national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga. Japan were the reigning champion after they defeated Fiji in the 2011 competition at Churchill P ...

, where he made his debut against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

on 5 June 2012.

Eastern Province Kings (2012)

He returned to the for the

2012 Currie Cup First Division The 2012 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 30 June to 13 October 2012. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competit ...

season. He scored five tries in eleven appearances and once more helped the Kings to win the First Division title, but once more missing out on promotion to the Premier Division. He also won two prizes at the Kings' end-of-season awards ceremony, winning the "Media Player of the Year" and "Try of the Year" awards.

Eastern Province Kings (2014)

After more appearances with the Samoa sevens side, Perez once again suffered a knee injury which ruled him out of action for the rest of 2013. He signed a contract to join Top 14 team Biarritz on a three-year prior to the 2013–14 Top 14 season, but for a third time, his rugby career in France was thwarted by visa problems and he failed to arrive at the club. Instead, he returned to the EP Kings. In March 2014, South African media sources reported that he was set for a move back to the prior to the

2014 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 76th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 9 August to 25 October 2014. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is the ...

campaign. He subsequently arrived in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

in April, with his move to the side pending a full recovery from a pre-existing knee injury. He spent the entire Currie Cup season undergoing rehabilitation for the knee injury and wasn't involved in any first team action. He was named in the EP Kings' training squad for the 2015 season, but his contract was terminated in November 2014 due to absenteeism.

Sharks (2015–)

Shortly after his dismissal from the Kings,

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

-based side the announced that Perez joined them on a trial basis. He was included in their squad for the

2015 Super Rugby season The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

. He failed to make any appearances in the competition, however, instead playing in two matches for the in the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Africa ...

competition, scoring a try on his debut against and making his first start for the Sharks in their match against Perez's former side, the .

Toulouse (2015)

French

side signed Perez during the 2015–16 as a medical joker to replace the injured

Yoann Huget Yoann Huget (; born 2 June 1987) is a former French rugby union player. He played as a wing or fullback. Career Club He started his rugby career playing for Stade Toulousain in the 2005–06 Top 14 season. He scored his first try in November 2 ...

, with Perez joining the side after 's elimination from the pool stage of the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Paul Samoan rugby union players Eastern Province Elephants players Taranaki rugby union players Living people 1986 births People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School Samoan emigrants to New Zealand People deported from New Zealand Samoan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa Samoan expatriate sportspeople in South Africa People educated at Whanganui City College Samoa international rugby union players Rugby union wings Sharks (Currie Cup) players Stade Toulousain players Sharks (rugby union) players Biarritz Olympique players