Weight 97 kg (15 st 4 lb) | Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | |
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Date of birth (1994-08-14) 14 August 1994 (age 22) Similar Jack Carty, Nepia Fox‑Matamua, Niyi Adeolokun, Danie Poolman, Naulia Dawai | ||
Rory Parata (born 14 August 1994) is an Australian-born Irish professional rugby union player. He primarily plays as a centre. Parata currently plays for Irish provincial side Connacht in the Pro12, coming through the province's academy. Parata has signed a full contract with the side in December 2015, which will see him become a member of the senior squad in the 2016–17 season.
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Early life
Parata was born in Sydney, Australia to a father from New Zealand and a mother from Ireland. His family moved to his mother's native County Cork when he was nine years old. Parata played rugby league from a young age in Australia, but after his family moved to Ireland he found he disliked the non-contact rugby union played at under-age with Dolphin. He instead played Gaelic football with Passage West and soccer instead, before returning to rugby at a later age. After returning to rugby Parata played with another Cork city-based club, this time Sundays Well.
Parata attended St Peter's Community School in Passage West and Rockwell College in Cashel. He played for Rockwell in the Munster Schools Senior Cup and was part of the starting team beaten in the final by Crescent College in the final in 2013.
Connacht
Parata played for the Munster under-18 Clubsteam, but moved to Irish rivals Connacht at under-19 level. He joined the Connacht academy ahead of the 2013–14 season. With the move to the west of Ireland, Parata also joined All-Ireland League team Galwegians. While he was playing with Galwegians, the club won successive promotions, ending up in Division 1A.
Parata's first senior appearance for Connacht came in a preseason friendly against Wasps in August 2013. He did not feature for the senior team in his first two years in the academy, but featured for the second tier side, the Connacht Eagles, in the British and Irish Cup. In the 2013–14 competition, Parata started three games, was named on the bench for two and didn't feature in the other. In the following season he played in two of the British and Irish Cup games, one of these appearances coming as a start, and also played for the Eagles in a friendly with the German national team in January 2015.
In the 2015–16 preseason Parata made his first start for Connacht, featuring against Grenoble, Castres and Munster in friendly matches. With first choice centre Robbie Henshaw away at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Parata made his competitive debut for Connacht in the opening game of the 2015–16 Pro12, starting against the Newport Gwent Dragons on 4 September 2015. He made his first European appearance just over two months later, when he featured in Connacht's opening 2015–16 Challenge Cup fixture. Parata scored a try in the game away to Russian side Enisei-STM, which took place in the team's Siberian base of Krasnoyarsk.
It was announced in December 2016 that Parata had signed a senior contract with Connacht, which will see him become a full member of the province's first team squad in the 2016–17 season.
International
Parata has represented Ireland at under-age level, though he is also qualified to play for Australia by birth and New Zealand through his father. In 2013 he was selected for the Irish under-19 squad in games against England and France. In the first game he featured as a replacement, before starting at out-half against France the following week.