Wartovo Puara Jr (born 24 June 1990) is a Papua New Guinean professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a for the Sepik Pride Rugby League Football Club in the

PNGNRL The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition (or the PNGNRL for short, for sponsorship reasons the PNGNRL Digicel Cup) is a semi-professional rugby league competition held annually in Papua New Guinea. Changes in Sponorship have meant ...

. He previously played for the

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Ba ...

in the

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

. He has represented the Papua New Guinean national team, most notably at the 2017 World Cup.

Early life

Puara was born in

Kokopo Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea. It is administered under Kokopo-Vunamami Urban LLG. The capital was moved from Rabaul in 1994 when the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted. As a result, the population of ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, and played his junior rugby league for the Kokopo Muruks.

Playing career

Puara joined the PNG Hunters in 2014 for their inaugural season in the Queensland Cup. He trained with the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

on a six week trial contract during the 2015 pre-season. In 2019 Puara signed for the

he enjoyed a great first season and was tipped by Barrie McDermott as one of 6 potential championship players that could play in super league. His form earned him a place in the PNG international side that took on Great Britain and won. In 2020 Puara signed a two-year contract extension with the Raiders. Puara represented PNG in

rugby league nines Rugby league nines (or simply nines) is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in ...

at the

2015 Pacific Games The 2015 Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

, scoring 2 tries in the grand final and being named Player of the Tournament.

References

External links

2017 RLWC profile
1990 births Living people Barrow Raiders players Papua New Guinean rugby league players Papua New Guinea Hunters players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players PNG Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from East New Britain Province {{PapuaNewGuinea-rugbyleague-bio-stub