The Toronto Arrows re-signed Paul Ciulini for the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 25-year-old lock is 6’5″and 255 lbs.
During the 2021 season, Paul played 802 minutes in 13 matches, starting 11. During the Covid-19 shortened 2020 season, he played 363 minutes in 5 starts, and in the 2019 season, he played 1160 minutes in 16 of the team’s 17 games, starting 15.
Paul’s career totals in his three years with the Arrows include, 474 carry metres on 122 carries, 313 tackles (90.7% completion), 52 lineout takes, 15 dominant tackles, a club-record eight lineout steals (jointly held with Tomas de la Vega), three tackle-breaks, two breakdown steals, one offload and one try.
Ciulini has earned eight caps for Canada, making five starts and scoring one try, and has the notable distinction of being the youngest player to ever start at lock for Canada (20y, 101d against Uruguay on Feb. 6, 2016). He also represented Canada at the 2015 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy.
Ciulini is from Vaughan, Ontario and attended St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School, and was a highly ranked throwing the javelin. After graduation, he went to the University of Toronto majoring in Chemistry, and played rugby for the Varsity Blues. He was also selected for the 2015 OUA All-Stars.
Ciulini began playing rugby at an early age with the Aurora Barbarians beginning about 2007 with the Under-12s.
Provincial and Professional Rugby
Paul Ciulini has played for the Rugby Ontario Provincial team, the Ontario Blues, and has played in several Canadian Rugby Championships.
In 2016 he signed an Academy contract with the Perpignan ProD2 in France. During 2018, played exhibition matches with the then Ontario Arrows and was among the first athletes to sign with the Toronto Arrows for the 2019 Major League Rugby season.
National Team
Playing in the Canada National Team program came in 2013, with his selection for the Under-18s tour to Romania. In 2015, He played in the World Rugby Under-20s Trophy competition, winning a silver medal.
Ciulini debuted with the Senior National team against Uruguay on February 6, 2016, in the Americas Rugby Championship. The last of his 8 tests occurred against the U.S. in Halifax, Nova Scotia on June 23, 2018.
He also played for Canada Selects against the Ontario Arrows in Vancouver and Castres in Lacaune, France in 2018 and also in the Americas Pacific Challenge for Canada A.
Currently, the Senior Men’s National Team had two matches in England beating Oxford University on Oct. 31, and Coventry on Nov. 5. With all touring team members needing playing time, Paul played against Oxford and was rested against Coventry.
Paul made his debut for Canada on 6 February 2018 at Langford in the Americas Rugby Championship and the last of his eight tests was against the United States at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 23 June 2018.
Other Articles
DJCoil Rugby articles by Doug Coil are also available on Facebook. Other Social Media sites to follow or subscribe to include Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for interviews.
