Edmond "Eddie" Paea (born 8 February 1988) is a dual-code rugby international rugby footballer for Tonga. Beginning his professional career playing

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

with the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, Paea made his debut for the Tongan rugby league team at the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

, before changing to

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and representing the Tongan rugby union team. Eddie currently plays for his junior team, the Mascot Juniors RLFC in the A Grade South Sydney Junior Rugby League competition which Eddie returned to in 2019.

Background

Paea was born in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia.

Rugby league career

Paea made his NRL debut for the Rabbitohs in round 26 of the 2006 season against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. A Junior Kiwi representative, Paea was named in Tonga's squad for the 2008 World Cup. Paea scored his first senior international try in the World Cup match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 8 November 2008. He also converted one try. Paea spent the majority of his time whilst contracted with South Sydney playing for their feeder team, the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

, in the

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

. Paea made a total of 42 appearances for Norths, scoring 15 tries, kicking 79 goals and scoring a total of 218 points.

Rugby union career

Paea played Rugby Union in Krasnoyarsk Russia for Krasny Yar as a first-5. They are currently the holders of the Russian Cup and were the 2015 Russian Champions.

References

External links

Krasny Yar ProfileVideoVideo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paea, Eddie 1988 births Living people Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Dual-code rugby internationals Niue national rugby league team players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Eddie Paea Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players Tonga international rugby union players Tonga national rugby league team players Wests Tigers NSW Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen