{"id":325069,"date":"2025-12-03T14:03:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/325069\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:03:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:03:44","slug":"tjp-back-in-demand-two-european-giants-interested-in-ex-nsw-forward-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/325069\/","title":{"rendered":"TJP back in demand: Two European giants interested in ex-NSW forward &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Less than a month after it was announced that he had signed with a new club in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a>, former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/teams\/nsw-blues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NSW Blues<\/a> representative forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/tevita-pangai-junior\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tevita Pangai Junior<\/a> has found himself on the radar of two of the biggest overseas rugby union clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Currently in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/france\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a> on a &#8220;temporary contract&#8221; with Sporting Club Leucante in the sixth division of the nation&#8217;s rugby union competition, Pangai Junior&#8217;s long-term future remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently linked with a move to the ACT Brumbies in the Super Rugby and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/super-league\/british-teams\/warrington-wolves\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Warrington Wolves<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/super-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super League<\/a>, reports have emerged that the ex-NRL forward is now training with Biarritz Olympique (a rugby union club in France&#8217;s second division) as he looks to get his career back on track.<\/p>\n<p>Now he has found himself on the radar of two of the biggest Top 14 clubs in Paris Stade Francais and Lyon, with both teams inquiring with the player&#8217;s agent about his status, per European website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.francebleu.fr\/sports\/rugby\/biarritz-olympique-le-treiziste-tevita-pangai-junior-ancien-des-dragons-catalans-a-l-essai-5383367?fbclid=Iwb21leAOWCUxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7dsTUDqr8dBe-I94vHEIUkfqTuqa5TLN0YaKnORwZqDGLm2kKlrgqDEOG8zw_aem_YGzd0wG25S77ti7Eodu7dw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France Bleu.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Previously\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/pangai-junior-open-to-nrl-return-in-2026-213259\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">admitting that he would like to retire in Australia and was interested in returning to the NRL in 2026<\/a>, Pangai Junior spent nine seasons in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a>, where he had stints with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/brisbane-broncos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brisbane Broncos<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/penrith-panthers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penrith Panthers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/teams\/canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/dolphins\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During this time, he registered 147 first-grade matches and nine international appearances for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/tonga\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tonga<\/a>\u00a0as well as one game for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/teams\/nsw-blues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NSW Blues<\/a>\u00a0during the 2023\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/state-of-origin\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">State of Origin<\/a>\u00a0series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to retire back in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/australia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australia<\/a>,\u201d the six-time Tongan international said in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; Less than a month after it was announced that he had signed with a new club&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-325069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}