If you are a Super Rugby aficionado, you probably know him as he stood out in the Waratahs' attack line for several seasons. If, however, you only follow the Top 14, there is less chance that his name will have struck you. Whatever…
VIDEO. Former Bayonnais Izaia Perese causes misery for the Crusaders but that's not enoughIzaia Perese, Australian international with 6 selections (including a match at the 2023 World Cup) indeed passed through Bayonne in 2020. At the time, the Basque club signed this boy from the NRL and rugby league of whom no one had never heard of it, or almost. A bet, since the boy had just been fired from the prestigious 13-year-old championship for a drug affair.
Assessment? 5 short matches and then leaves, the former Broncos player having a hard time being away from his family. Sunday against Toulouse and in the colors of Leicester, he will return to play in France, 4 years after leaving it.
A bundle of nerves
Beyond the extra-sporting troubles of a few years ago, Izaia Perese therefore remains a very explosive 27-year-old 3/4 center and extremely dangerous offensively, in a profile close to the Argentinian septist Luciano Gonzalez.
A ball of muscles (1m78 for 95kg) difficult to put on the ground, who will once again be the main offensive danger for the Tigers, who nevertheless have others (Kata, Hassell-Collins). In Leicester, where he arrived last summer, he quickly made his mark.
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Author of 2 tries in 3 Champions Cup matches, he will be closely watched by Stade Toulousain this weekend. Especially since in the absence of Pita Ahki and Santiago Chocobares, the Reds and Blacks could suffer physically against Leicester's very compact and powerful midfield, even if Delibes was started in 13 to compensate for this.
But Toulouse probably has the experience and the resources to find a way to counter the fellows who have passed through the XIII, who sometimes have difficulty bending down and sliding in defense…
