Rory Parata (born 14 August 1994) is an

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 ...

n-born Irish professional rugby union player. He primarily plays as a centre. As of 2021, Parata plays for English side Cornish Pirates in the RFU Championship. He previously played for Irish provincial side Connacht, having come through the team's academy, and Zebre.

Early life

Parata was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to a father from New Zealand and a mother from Ireland. His family moved to his mother's native County Cork when he was nine years old. Parata played rugby league from a young age in Australia, but after his family moved to Ireland he found he disliked the non-contact rugby union played at under-age with Dolphin. He instead played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

with Passage West and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

instead, before returning to rugby at a later age. After returning to rugby Parata played with another Cork city-based club, this time

Sundays Well Sunday's Well () is a suburb of Cork city in Ireland. It is situated in the north-west of the city, on a ridge on the northern bank of the River Lee. Sunday's Well is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-Central. The area's GAA club i ...

. Parata attended St Peter's Community School in Passage West and Rockwell College in Cashel. He played for Rockwell in the Munster Schools Senior Cup and was part of the starting team beaten in the final by Crescent College in the final in 2013.

Club career

Connacht

Parata played for the Munster under-18 clubs team, but moved to Irish rivals Connacht at under-19 level. He joined the Connacht academy ahead of the 2013–14 season. With the move to the west of Ireland, Parata also joined All-Ireland League team Galwegians. While he was playing with Galwegians, the club won successive promotions, ending up in Division 1A. Parata's first senior appearance for Connacht came in a preseason friendly against Wasps in August 2013. He did not feature for the senior team in his first two years in the academy, but featured for the second tier side, the

Connacht Eagles Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Conn ...

, in the

British and Irish Cup The British and Irish Cup was an annual rugby union competition for second tier, semi-professional clubs and the reserves or developing teams from professional clubs from Great Britain and Ireland. It took place for the first time in the 2009 ...

. In the 2013–14 competition, Parata started three games, was named on the bench for two and didn't feature in the other. In the following season he played in two of the

games, one of these appearances coming as a start, and also played for the Eagles in a friendly with the

German national team German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

in January 2015. In the 2015–16 preseason Parata made his first start for Connacht, featuring against Grenoble, Castres and

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

in friendly matches. With first choice centre Robbie Henshaw away at 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 ...

, Parata made his competitive debut for Connacht in the opening game of the

2015–16 Pro12 The 2015–16 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the fifteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the sixth with its current four-country format. it ...

, starting against the Newport Gwent Dragons on 4 September 2015. He made his first European appearance just over two months later, when he featured in Connacht's opening 2015–16 Challenge Cup fixture. Parata scored a try in the game away to Russian side

Enisei-STM Yenisey-STM Rugby Club is a Russian rugby union club founded in 1975. It is one of the two powerful Krasnoyarsk clubs, the other being their cross town rivals Krasny Yar. They participate in the Professional Rugby League, the premier rugby cham ...

, which took place in the team's Siberian base of Krasnoyarsk. During the course of the season, he played a total of 12 Pro12 games and six in the Challenge Cup. It was announced in December 2016 that Parata had signed a senior contract with Connacht, becoming a full member of the province's first team squad in the 2016–17 season. He played fewer games in that season, making five appearances in the

2016–17 Pro12 The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the ...

and three in the Champions Cup. In April 2017, it was announced that Parata would leave the province at the end of the season.

Harbour Dunedin

After leaving Connacht, Parata travelled to his father's native New Zealand. He was one of a number of released Connacht players to make the journey, along with Ciarán Gaffney, Cian Romaine and Jack Dineen. In New Zealand Parata joined Harbour, an amateur team in the Dunedin Premier. While he was playing with them, the side reached the final of the competition, where they were beaten 24–15 by Southern.

Zebre

In January 2018, it was announced that Parata would return to the Pro14, having signed for Italian side Zebre for the remainder of the season. The move saw him link up with former Connacht head coach Michael Bradley and his former Connacht teammate Ciarán Gaffney.

International career

Parata has represented Ireland at under-age level, though he is also qualified to play for Australia by birth and New Zealand through his father. In 2013 he was selected for the Irish under-19 squad in games against England and France. In the first game he featured as a replacement, before starting at out-half against France the following week.

References

External links

EPCR profilePro12 Connacht profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parata, Rory 1994 births Living people Connacht Rugby players Galwegians RFC players Irish rugby union players People educated at Rockwell College Rugby union centres Sundays Well RFC players Zebre Parma players People from Passage West Rugby union players from County Cork Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Irish expatriate rugby union players