Mererangi Paul
Mererangi Paul (born 29 October 1998) is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays for Chiefs Manawa in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition and for Counties Manukau in the Farah Palmer Cup. Early careerNetball & Touch rugbyPaul played for the Northern Mystics in the ANZ Premiership, she debuted for them in the 2017 ANZ Premiership season.[1][2][3] She also competed for the New Zealand Women's Open squad for the 2019 Touch Football World Cup in Malaysia.[2] Rugby sevensPaul played her first sevens game for Rotoiti three weeks prior to Auckland's Red Bull Ignite7 competition in 2018.[1] She was named as one of the top three women during the tournament and earned a spot at the Black Ferns Sevens National Development Camp for 2019.[1] Paul also competed for the Surge Women's team in the 2020 Red Bull Ignite7's tournament in December.[4][5] She played Fly-half for Counties Manukau in the Farah Palmer Cup and has also represented Bay of Plenty in sevens.[3][6] Rugby careerPaul joined Chiefs Manawa in 2022 as part of their wider training squad before making her first start for the side during the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.[3] She started on the wing in her debut for the Chiefs against Hurricanes Poua in the opening match of the season.[7] She later scored a hat-trick in her sides win over the Blues in round two of the competition.[8][9] In the third and final round, an error from Matatū helped Paul score her team's first points.[10][11] She scored in the Chiefs semi-final win against Hurricanes Poua, and also featured in their loss to Matatū in the final.[12][13] Paul was one of 34-players who received Black Ferns contracts on 17 April 2023.[14][15] In June, she was named in the Black Ferns 30-player squad to compete in the Pacific Four Series and O’Reilly Cup.[16][17] She scored two tries on her debut against Australia on 29 June 2023 at Brisbane.[18][19] At the Pacific Four Series in July, she scored two tries in her sides 21–52 victory over Canada in Ottawa.[20][21] References
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