England international Kai Pearce-Paul made a huge impact on his debut for NRL outfit Wests Tigers today.
Pearce-Paul made the move to Wests from Newcastle Knights over the off-season, with the back-rower hitting the open market before being snapped up by Benji Marshall’s side. It’s a big move for the 25-year-old and he wasted no time in making an impact for his new club, scoring two tries on his debut at Leichardt Oval.
His first half efforts helped set the Tigers on their way to a 44-16 win over North Queensland Cowboys in their first game of the new NRL season, and after claiming three wooden spoons in the last four years, Wests will now be looking ahead to the rest of the season with optimism.
Samuela Fainu and Adam Doueihi got the Tigers up and running against the Cowboys with tries inside the first 16 minutes of the game, before Pearce-Paul got his first of the afternoon in the 25th minute, bursting through a hole on the Cowboys right edge to touch down.
His second came nine minutes later, with the forward getting on the end of a deft Jarome Luai grubber through the line and into the in-goal area.
Pearce-Paul played the full 80 minutes for Wests and made 140 metres from 12 carries, with 57 of those metres coming post contact. He made 30 tackles, too, a figure just two of his teammates managed to surpass.
There will be more English interest down under on Sunday with Dom Young named in the Newcastle Knights side to take on Manly Sea Eagles, while AJ Brimson, Herbie Farnworth and Morgan Knowles will be in action when Dolphins take on Gold Coast Titans.
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