Henry Paul

Personal information
Full name	Henry Rangi Paul
Date of birth	10 February 1974 (1974-02-10) (age 35)
Place of birth	Tokoroa, New Zealand
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	15 st 3 lbs (97 kg)
Nickname(s)	HP Sauce
School(s) attended	Rutherford High
Relatives	Robbie Paul
Club information
Position(s)	Inside centre /
Current club	Leeds Carnegie
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Ponsonby club Waitakere City Raiders Te Atatu Roosters
Youth representative teams
1993	Junior Kiwis
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1993–1994 1994–1998 1996 1999–2001 2001–2006 2006–2008 2008–	Wakefield Trinity Wigan Warriors Bath Rugby Bradford Bulls Gloucester Rugby Harlequins RL Leeds Carnegie	24 (111) 147 (550) - 100 (960) 96 (702) 63 (240) 25 (7)
Representative teams
1995–2001 2002–2006 2002–200x	New Zealand England RU England A	24 (121) 6 (6) 7
Sevens National teams
	England Sevens
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

This article is about the rugby player. See Henry Paul (musician) for the article about the southern rock/country musician.

Henry Paul (born 10 February 1974 in Tokoroa, New Zealand), is a dual code rugby international. Henry Paul has previously represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union XV's and 7's.

Henry's usual position is loose forward/Lock. He can also operate in the back row. He made his name as a dynamic stand off. He is currently playing at centre for rugby union, and has previously played at 10.

His brother is Robbie Paul, also a New Zealand international.

[edit] Early career

Paul started playing rugby union at the age of three with the Ponsonby club and later, during his time at Rutherford High (now Rutherford College), he played union during the week and league at the weekends for the Te Atatu Roosters.

[edit] Wakefield Trinity

In the New Zealand offseason in 1993/94 he joined Wakefield Trinity in the English Rugby League Championship and was highly impressive.^[1]

[edit] Back to New Zealand

He returned to New Zealand for the 1994 season, playing for the Waitakere City Raiders in the new Lion Red Cup. He originally signed for the new Auckland Warriors club who were to enter the Australian Rugby League in 1995 but they released him as part of a deal that allowed Andy Platt to join Auckland from Wigan.

[edit] Wigan

Henry Paul in action for Harlequins RL

This section requires expansion.

He then went on to join Wigan Warriors for the 1994-1995 season and quickly established himself in the squad. He stayed with the Club until 1998.

[edit] Bradford

In September 1998, at the end of his contract he moved to Bradford Bulls, whom he helped beat his former club Wigan in the Super League Grand Final in the autumn of 2001. When he was at Bradford he set a goalkicking record for consecutive goals (35), as well as for points in a season at the club.^[2]

He won the Lance Todd Trophy for his performance in the 2000 Challenge Cup victory over Leeds Rhinos.

[edit] International Rugby League

In international football he received 23 caps for New Zealand.^[3] Upon his return from rugby union in 2006 he qualified for both New Zealand and Great Britain.^[4][5]

[edit] Move to Rugby Union

Paul had previously spoken to NRL club Canterbury Bulldogs and Super 12 clubs Auckland Blues and Waikato Chiefs. However, he was finally tempted away from the Bradford Bulls, to play rugby union for Gloucester Rugby, by Tom Walkinshaw and Philippe Saint-André.^[6][7]

He had a dream début for Gloucester scoring 28 points against Caerphilly RFC. A prolific goal kicker and a gifted runner and distributor, Henry began a four year contract at Kingsholm in 2001 and won national squad selection after just one game for Gloucester Rugby.^[8][9]

His early days at Gloucester were turbulent, compared to the unqualified domestic success that he had in later years at the club. He was even linked with a return his former club Bradford Bulls, Widnes Vikings and a move to NRL club Canberra Raiders and a reunion with former coach at Bradford Matthew Elliott.^[10][11][12]

Having experimented with being a fullback, and fly-half he settled into the inside centre position and his long passing stood well with Gloucester's style of play. He had his best year with Gloucester Rugby in 2004 where he won the club's season ticket holders’ player of the year award and was also nominated for the Zurich Premiership player of the year award alongside Bruce Reihana, Mark van Gisbergen, Mark Robinson and Simon Shaw.

[edit] England international

With his switch to rugby union, he controversially decided to play for England (due to the fact he could only play for the New Zealand national side if he played in Super 12) rather than New Zealand. Although he was born in New Zealand, he qualified for England through his Liverpudlian grandfather.^[6]

He won his first England cap as a replacement against France in 2002 but has only managed to win a handful of caps since then, mostly during the 2004 Six Nations, coming off the bench in Rome and Murrayfield. He was also considered man of the match for England A against France A in March 2004 - with five penalties and a conversion, and all round play of high class.

He excelled for the England Sevens side and was a member of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2006 Commonwealth Games squads, winning a silver medal in 2006. Paul also was the acting captain of England Sevens when it won the USA Sevens tournament in 2006. He was also a member of the England A team that won the 2003 Churchill Cup in Canada and returned there again on the 2004 Churchill Cup tour.

[edit] Harlequins RL

Henry Paul in action for Harlequins RL

On the 27 April 2006, Henry agreed a move back to rugby league joining Harlequins Rugby League. The London side beat off competition from the Penrith Panthers to secure his signature.^[13]

His brother Robbie Paul plays rugby league for Salford Reds, having played with Henry at Bradford Bulls before a spell at Huddersfield Giants. Henry faced Robbie in his first game back in Super League on 29 April 2006.

Henry Paul moved into the back-row upon his return to rugby league, where forwards are typically smaller than in rugby union, and intended to retire at the end of the 2008 season.^[14][15]

[edit] Man of Steel Awards controversy

In 2007 Henry Paul appeared drunk at the Super League's Man of Steel Award's dinner. Paul had slurred his acceptance speech when he received the Frontline Fairplay Index Award, awarded for good behaviour on the field, on behalf of the club.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Paul has since apologised for his actions. Quins Chairman Ian Lenagan stated that the drama had not jeopardised the player's new 12-month contract.^{[20][21][22][23]}

[edit] 2008

Henry Paul has taken over the goal kicking responsibilities from the departed Paul Sykes.^[24] Harlequins coach Brian McDermott is desperate for the veteran to extend the autumn of his career beyond the end of the current season.^[25] Paul had admitted he wants to carry on playing next season and hinted he would like to remain at the club.^[26]

[edit] Leeds Carnegie

He had been linked with a return to rugby union with Leeds Carnegie.^[27] But the move was initially seen as unlikely due to the team being recently relegated from the Guinness Premiership.^[28][29] One newspaper has reported that he has already signed for the National Division One-bound club.^[30]

The 34-year-old switched codes and joined Leeds' National League One campaign at the end of the 2007/08 Super League season.^[31][32] He has agreed a two-year deal at Headingley.^[33]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Henry Paul Wigan Career Page on the CherryandWhite.co.uk Wigan RL Fansite.
• Leeds Carnegie profile
• Quins RL profile
• England profile
• Passion for Sport 2001
• Kiwis too strong for Kumuls
• The Millennium Masters - Substitutes
• Bull Masters - Henry Paul