Paul Ciulini Vancouver Highlander #5

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Paul Ciulini Announced as 5th Signing for Vancouver Highlanders

Paul Ciulini has been named as the 5th Vancouver Highlanders signing. Capped 8 times for Canada, he was on the last Canada team to defeat Uruguay at both the U20 (2015) and senior (2016) levels.

Curry Hitchborn: Paul is capable man. His experience and outlook as an athlete and person will be invaluable to any team. He’s in the best shape of his life and ready for the challenges ahead.

Our current posts on Paul Ciulini start in 2021 where he’s playing 2nd row for the Toronto Arrows in the MLR. In June of that year he was on the Canada long list for the July tests.

We fast forward to the 2022 MLR and another season with the Toronto Arrows. Ciulini made the MLR 1st XV team on Week 18. There were a few MLR 1st XV selections who were left off Kingsley Jones 30 player selection for the summer tests of 2022:  O’Gorman, Ciulini, Sheppard, Heaton (injured), Penny (injured).

In the spring of 2023 he played for the Rowers in the BC Premier competition.

When the U20 team toured to Uruguay in May 2023 we reflected on the 2015 U20 team, who were the last to defeat Uruguay at the U20 level, on that team were notable players such as Lucas Rumball, Andrew Coe, Theo Sauder, Phil Berna, Guiseppe du Toit, Ollie Nott, Luke Bradley, Adrian Wadden, Paul Ciulini, Matt Tierney.

It’s interesting to note that not only was Ciulini on the last Canada U20 team to beat Uruguay, he was on the last senior men’s XVs team to beat Uruguay in 2016, 33-17. Who were the coaches of that 2016 team, Francois Ratier and Jamie Cudmore.

Ciulini was starting 2nd row on the 2018 team that defeated Tonga in the Americas Pacific Challenge. In the summer of 2018 he was part of a strong Ontario team in the Canadian Rugby Championship.

In September 2016 we had this posted on our website: Paul Ciulini — Perpignan (Pro D2)
The 20-year-old lock has enjoyed a breakout 2016 where he made his test debut for Canada and has since gone on to win six test caps. His play has been rewarded with an academy contract with Perpignan in the Pro D2.

When we go back to 2015, a young Ciulini was playing for the Ravens in the BC Premier. Peter MacDonald writes this up in his April 2015 report on the Ravens win over UBC, “The young locks, Darcy Ralph and Paul Ciulini, did a lot of the hard work as did prop Pete Houlihan on his way to the Canada A tour.”  Ciulini was playing for the Ravens as well in the fall of 2014.

Overall Ciulini has 8 caps for Canada and at 28 is still in his prime for a 2nd row player. If you looked at the top NZ locks from last year’s World Cup, Retallick, Whitelock, Barrett, they were all over 30 years of age.

Final summary goes to Bryan Ray.

Posted in Front Page, Highlanders.