Dominique Peyroux (born 21 January 1989) is a 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 forward or for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He has played for the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and

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 ...

at international level. He previously played for the Gold Coast Titans and the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, and St Helens in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. Peyroux represented the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

at the

2009 Pacific Cup The 2009 Pacific Cup, known as the 2009 SP Brewery Pacific Cup due to sponsorship, was a rugby league competition held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The competing teams were the , , , , . Tonga, Fiji and PNG had their places in the draw co ...

, 2013 World Cup and the 2021 World Cup, and

at the 2014 Four Nations.

Early years

Peyroux was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand to a father of Cook Island and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

descent and a mother of Samoan and

Solomon Island Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

descent. He played junior rugby league for the

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911 Auckland Rugby League season, 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competit ...

Mangere East Hawks The Mangere East Hawks are a rugby league based in Mangere, New Zealand. The Hawks compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. History The club was formed in 1963, the first fourteen junior teams took the field in 1964.''The Haw ...

, and Papatoetoe Panthers. He attended and played for the Sarah Redfern High School after moving to Australia with his family at age 15 to pursue his rugby league career. Peyroux signed with the Sydney Roosters, and then moved to Mattraville Sports High School in his final year of schooling, winning the AAC National Champions Trophy with the school in 2007.

Playing career

Peyroux signed professionally for the Sydney Roosters in 2007 but never featured for their first grade side, instead playing in the National Youth Competition in the Under 20 set-up. He then featured for Sydney's feeder side, the Newtown Jets, in the New South Wales Cup for the 2008 season, before joining the Gold Coast Titans. In 2010, he was dual registered with Tweed Heads Seagulls, a feeder club to the Titans. He made his debut for the Titans in 2011 and played sixteen games for the club as they finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon.Dominique Peyroux
''rugbyleagueproject.org'' Peyroux joined the

for the 2013 season and made his debut for the club on 3 June 2013. He signed for St Helens, and started on a two-year contract at the beginning of 2016 season. He played in the

2019 Challenge Cup Final The 2019 Challenge Cup Final was the deciding game of the Rugby Football League's 2019 Challenge Cup competition, the 118th staging of the competition. The match was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 24 August 2019 with kick off at 15:00. Th ...

defeat by the Warrington Wolves at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He played in the

2019 Super League Grand Final The 2019 Super League Grand Final was the 22nd official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIV. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 12 October 2019. The final was contested by St. Helens and Salford Red Devils ( ...

victory over the Salford Red Devils at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. On 17 Nov 2020 it was announced that Peyroux would be joining his teammate

Joseph Paulo Joseph Paulo (born 2 January 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a and for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He has played for both Samoa and the United States at international level. He pr ...

at Toulouse Olympique for the 2021 season He played in St Helens 8-4

2020 Super League Grand Final The 2020 Super League Grand Final was the 23rd official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXV. The game was won 8–4 by St Helens R.F.C., St Helens over their local rivals Wigan Warriors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in ...

victory over Wigan at the

Kingston Communications Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

in Hull.

Toulouse Olympique

On 17 November 2020, Toulouse announced the signing of Peyroux from St Helens on a two-year deal. On 10 October 2021, Peyroux played for Toulouse in their victory over Featherstone in the

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual playoff final rugby league game that decides which Championship team will be promoted to Super League the following season. Between 2015 and 2018, the game was played as part of The Qualif ...

which saw the club promoted to the

for the first time in their history.

Representative career

Peyroux was selected for the Cook Islands for their

competition in October 2009 and featured against

, in a 22–20 win to qualify for the group stages, and against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in another narrow win; 24–22 in which Peyroux, playing on the , scored twice, the second of which being the match-winning try in the final minute. This win guided them to the final against

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 ...

on 1 November 2009. They lost this final by 42–14, a game in which Peyroux scored his third try in as many games in the tournament. In October and November 2013, Peyroux played for 'the Kukis' in their

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

campaign. He scored a try in 2 of their 3 games in the tournament. In May 2014, Peyroux played for another Pacific Island Nation. He represented Samoa in the 2014 Pacific Rugby League International. On 7 October 2014, Peyroux was selected in the Samoan 24-man squad for the 2014 Four Nations series. He was only used once in the campaign. On 2 May 2015, Peyroux scored the winning try after a line-break in their

Polynesian Cup The Pacific Rugby League International is a rugby league test match that has been played between two Pacific Island nations during the National Rugby League's annual representative weekend since 2013. The fixture was held at Penrith Stadium for t ...

match against Tonga.

Personal life

Whilst playing for the Roosters in 2008, Peyroux featured in the ''Naked for a Cause'' initiative ''Gods of Football'' in which

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives compan ...

players compiled a nude calendar to raise money for

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

charity the

McGrath Foundation The McGrath Foundation is a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia and increase breast health awareness. The charity was founded by Austral ...

References

External links