TJ Perenara

At 32 years old, TJ Perenara has this physical status:

Thomas Tekanapu Rawakata Perenara (born 23 January 1992), also known as TJ Perenara, is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for the All Blacks nationally and is the current vice-captain of the Hurricanes, in which he leads the team in total games played.

In the Mitre 10 Cup, he has also signed to the Wellington Lions.

He was a member of New Zealand's under-20 rugby team, which triumphed the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship in Italy.

Early life and family

Perenara was born in Porirua, New Zealand, and grew up in Titahi Bay's suburb. Thomas (his father hails from Matat) competed with the Junior Kiwis and the New Zealand Softball Team (Black Sox) from 1987 to 1996. Fiona (Farrow)'s mother played softball for New Zealand, as did his grandmother Patricia Farrow and uncle Jason Farrow. Perenara's paternal grandmother was born in Broken Hill, Australia. Henry and Marcus, two of Henry's relatives, were involved in the National Rugby League competition. He is also closely related to All Black teammate Sonny Bill Williams, as well as Samoan international rugby player Tim Nanai-Williams. He is of Te Arawa and Ngti Rangiti Rangitihi descent.

Personal life

Perenara is known for his support for social causes, having often spoken out in favour of inclusivity and representation in rugby. Perenara tweeted in response to Israel Folau's tumultuous remarks on same-sex marriage, expressing support for the rainbow community. He has continued to campaign for LGBT rights.

Since being a vegetarian for two years, Perenara has been following a vegetarian diet since November 2019. "I ate meat before about two years ago," the man said when discussing his first switch to a vegetarian diet. I started on the India tour — I was all about the climate, pollution, and stuff like that. And then, I watched Cowspiracy, a documentary about cowspiracy. It discussed how much agricultural farming accounts for the world's pollution, and I was like a man, but I can't say I care about it if I eat meat. My goal is to go vegan, so that's what I'll get to."

Perenara and his partner Greer announced that they were expecting their first child in early 2020.

He is also a distant cousin of late All Black Sonny Bill Williams.

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Career

In a 419-19 victory over the Western Force in Perth on March 10, Perenara scored a hat-trick of tries on his Super Rugby debut on his first appearance in a 46–19 victory. Perenara became a regular starter for the team right away.

He was selected for the 2013 Rugby Championship team, but he was not capped that year.

In 2014, he made his All Blacks debut in the first test against England, ascent Malakai Fekitoa. In a 34-13 victory over Argentina that year, Perenara scored his first test attempt for the All Blacks, after replacing Aaron Smith off the bench. Perenara then started against the United States for the first time in his international career, but only after being resurgent with nine minutes to go. Perenara participated in all three remaining tests on the end-of-year tour, including a match against Scotland.

Perenara had the second-most tries of any player in the 2015 Super Rugby season behind Highlanders winger Waisake Naholo, who scored 11 tries for the Hurricanes that season. Perenara's first match against Argentina for the All Blacks came at the end of the Super Rugby season. He was selected in New Zealand's finally successful 2015 Rugby World Cup squad, which included a match against Namibia.

Following Conrad Smith's departure to Pau, Perenara was named vice-captain of the Hurricanes. Perenara captained the Hurricanes several times in 2016, including in the semi-final against the Chiefs, due to injury to regular captain Dane Coles. Perenara was also named man of the match against the Sharks in the quarter-finals, where he scored a try in the 41-0 victory, the first time a losing team in Super Rugby history had not scored a single point in a knockout round.

Perenara was initially kicked out of New Zealand's All Blacks squad in 2016, but was called up as injury cover for Tawera Kerr-Barlow. The All Blacks retained Perenara and Kerr-Barlow in the squad for the Rugby Championship, with the All Blacks deciding to have three halfbacks in the team. Aaron Smith's form quality began to decline during the game after suffering several off-field injuries. Perenara got off to a promising start against Argentina in the championship, while keeping the starting position over Kerr-Barlow for the remainder of the tournament. During the competition, he scored four attempts, including two tries against South Africa and what was later rated for Try of The Year against Argentina. Since Smith's off-field activities too, Perenara has been used as New Zealand's Haka chief.

Perenara, New Zealand's first-choice halfback, was established at the beginning of 2016 after Aaron Smith's demise in fame following his return to the international arena. Perenara won in Chicago's historic 40-29 loss to Ireland in 2016. He was one of the team's top try-scoring scorers in 2016.

Perenara, the team's captain, led the team in every single match of the year except for four, after leading the Hurricanes to an 83-17 victory over the Sunwolves to open their season. This occurred after Dane Coles was badly injured in round three against the Chiefs. Coles did not return to action until the knockout rounds. In the semi-finals, Coles relieved Perenara of captaincy. Perenara scored the first attempt of the semi-final in Johannesburg, but the Hurricanes suffered a 29-44 loss to the Lions in the match.

In 2017, Perenara scored his 44th attempt and seventh of the 2017 season in Johannesburg's semi-final loss to the Lions. Perenara scored his first attempt of the 2018 Super Rugby season against the Crusaders on his 45th attempt. Perenara has the second-to-most attempts of 48 attempts behind New South Wales Waratahs fullback Israel Folau.

Despite an excellent Super Rugby campaign, Perenara returned to being the second-choice halfback with Aaron Smith returning to full form. This was made clear in the 2017 Pasifika Challenge against Samoa, where Perenara Smith was replaced by Perenara in the 56th minute, with Perenara scoring a try in the 71st minute. In all three tests against the British & Irish Lions in 2017, Smith came back to halftime, with Perenara coming off the bench as a reserve in those three matches. In every single test against the Lions, Perenara leads the Haka. He had a heavy workload against the All Blacks in 2017, including 14 matches against Argentina, which was a 39-22 victory, and leading the haka in all of them, including a try against the Barbarians in a 31-22 victory. Perenara only missed one test against South Africa this year, the last 2017 Rugby Championship fixture against South Africa.

Perenara was expected to take over as Hurricane captain for 2018 after Dane Coles was ruled out for the season due to a torn ACL injury sustained against France in 2017. Perenara remained as vice captain for his last season with the Hurricanes, rather than Perenara or Coles as captain.

He struggled with injury early in the year, but he scored six tries in the 2018 Super Rugby season. Perenara's most notable contribution to the Hurricanes in 2018 was his Man-of-the-Match victory over the Chiefs in the quarter-finals, scoring two tries and making a try-saving tackle on Chiefs flanker Lachlan Boshier.

Perenara was still selected for the All Blacks in 2018, but he was awarded his first yellow card of his international career against France in the 2018 Steinlager series. During the controversial 26-13 win, the second test, for an offside, saw France's Benjamin Fall red-carded.

Perenara was selected to begin with the All Blacks against Argentina on September 8, 2018, after eight consecutive appearances off the bench since 2017. Perenara had a spectacular 71-minute showing, with two attempts and solid defense, bringing his international try total number to ten attempts from 48 tests. With the All Blacks defeated Argentina 46-24, Perenara was subbed off for his All Black debutant and former Hurricanes teammate Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi. Perenara was named Man of the Match, but his results were not satisfactory, as he missed a tackle on Ramiro Moyano, resulting in Argentina scoring the first attempt. Perenara's Aaron Smith was suspended from the bench in the 49th minute during a rugby Championship test against South Africa, despite Smith's poor showing. Perenara did much better than Smith, but his country was unable to help his country win. In an unexpected loss, New Zealand lost by a largely one-sided first-half to South Africa, 34-36.

Perenara's 50th test for New Zealand was held on September 29, just four years after his international debut. Perenara played for 66 minutes before being replaced by Aaron Smith, the All Black debut of Angus Ta'avao and their third straight victory of the Rugby Championship competition. The All Blacks won the test, 35-17. During the last Rugby Championship test, Perenara only played in the last ten minutes, defeating South Africa by a narrow 32-30 victory.

Perenara's fading form saw them start their 2018 end-of-year tour against Australia in a 37-20 victory. Aaron Smith's was off to a good start in the third Bledisloe Cup test against Australia. Perenara was on the bench before the All Blacks' key players, including Perenara and Captain Kieran Read, failed the test against Japan, including Perenara and Captain Kieran Read, were called on the bench ahead of the 10th November test against England. Perenara's poor showing against England and could have cost New Zealand a victory, with England replacement forward, Courtney Lawes, bringing down a box-kick from Perenara to set Sam Underhill up for what could have been England's winning attempt. The referee did not try England, however, as Lawes was considered to be offside. New Zealand barely beat England 16-15, with only 16-15 points between them. Perenara was later suspended after losing 9-16 against New Zealand on November 17, which was then a 9-16 loss to Ireland. Perenara finished the season with a victory over Italy after the big games against England and Ireland. Jordie Barrett, the wing's winger, scored the first time against Italy on a pass from him before being replaced by Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi in the 51st minute of the test, which ended the season in a 66-3 victory.

Perenara was obligated to assume captaincy after Coles was injured in the season alongside club captain Dane Coles. The Hurricanes suffered a loss to the Crusaders and a draw with the Chiefs under his leadership, which was even more restricted by the Crusaders' defeat to the Crusaders on March 29. From Round 8 to Round 14, the Hurricanes enjoyed an unbroken run of victories until Round 14, when the Jaguares South American team defeated them for the first time ever, 20-28 in Wellington. Dane Coles returned to Perenara for the sides tour of South Africa, where two victories improved the team's prospects as they concluded the regular season with a 29-24 victory over the Blues, which earned a home quarterfinal match against the Bulls. His side won the game 35-28, but the Hurricanes will face the Crusaders in the Super Rugby semifinals. Perenara's loss of that game 30-26 will show that Sam Whitelock's late intervention would have a major role in his team's demise in 2019. Perenara was widely regarded as the Hurricanes' Most Valuable Player of the 2019 Super Rugby season.

Perenara took nine tests for New Zealand in 2019, five at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, where the All Blacks finished in third place. During New Zealand's 71-9 Pool Stage triumph over Namibia, he was named IRP Try of the Year in 2019.

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