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Troubled Izaia Perese back in union after securing Top 14 deal
By Online Editors
Top 14 club Bayonne have announced they have convinced Izaia Perese to pack in his dalliance with rugby league and instead given union another go. The 23-year-old Australian is currently in his second year with NRL’s Brisbane-based Broncos.
Capped for Australia at Under-20s level, Perese made 17 Super Rugby appearances for the Reds, scoring four tries across his seasons with the Queensland franchise.
That form resulted in the Broncos tempting Perese to cross-codes, but he has fallen out of favour with the Broncos after he was stood down in February following an arrest for drugs possession.
Perese pleaded guilty to supplying a dangerous drug at Albion Creek last September but has now had a probation order for drug charges removed by a court to allow him to travel to France and take up the lucrative Top 14 offer.
In a statement on the club website, Bayonne said: “After the (lockdown easing) announcements by the government Thursday which make us think that we will soon be able to find you at Jean-Dauger, you will meet a new player there: Izaia Perese.
“Still very young (23 years old), solid (1.8m, 91kgs), he was a star of Australian rugby league with the Brisbane Broncos after playing XV and international U20s.
“He will reinforce the backline since he plays in midfield. He is also the last reinforcement of our team for next season.”
Before he switched to the Broncos in what was described by Australian media as a shock move, Perese had been singled out on a number of occasions by then Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, who included him in a training capacity in a number of squads.
“He's killing it," the Australian coach said at the time. “He’s in a very competitive position. I think he's a guy who can defend in the midfield as well. He's got that genuine pace; he's got a great mindset and a great attitude. He's coming along very nicely.”
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Latest Comments
Not if England are going to give him a couple o appearances a year for a 200k top up, he won’t need to break into the top group. This is not the ABs in more ways than just England matching them in loose fowards.
His skill set will be unique though!
Go to commentsThe extent to which rugby pundits in NZ rely on their rose tinted spectacles really baffles me. Anton Lienert-Brown has been a good but nothing more player for a few seasons now. For an experienced player he gives a maddening amount of penalties and yellow cards too so I don’t give him any credit for all that experience.
If you had a clean slate and knew nothing about history, the guy wouldn’t be anywhere near people’s choice for 13 (or 12) if you only watch super rugby the last couple of seasons. Bailyn Sullivan / Billy Proctor / AJ Lam / Tavatavanawai to just just a few have all looked miles better than ALB.
How on earth does that end up with people saying he should be in the squad let alone starting. We have to move on from these type of players - he was never a great player and we have so many alternate options.
There is a group of mediocre players that we need to clear out, or at least try other options. We know how limited that group are, now is the time to see if some other talent can step up (the time was last year, but anyway…).
Jacobson, ALB, Papali’i, Christie, Lord, Havili, Reece. Just move on from them all and try for some upside. Thank god Cane/Perenara have finally moved on because they were in this camp too.
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