| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Richard Griffen | |
| Date of birth | 30 March 1975 | |
| Place of birth | Dunedin, New Zealand | |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | |
| Weight | 85 kg (13 st 5 lb) | |
| Club information | ||
| Position(s) | Scrum-half | |
| Current club | Rugby Calvisano | |
| Senior clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1993–1994 1995–1999 1999–2000 2000-present |
Blaketown Linwood Partenope Calvisano |
|
| Representative teams | ||
| 1993-94 1997 2000–2009 |
West Coast Canterbury Italy |
? (?) 1 (0) 42 (13) |
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
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Paul Richard Griffen (born 30 March 1975 in Dunedin, New Zealand) is an Italian rugby union footballer. He has represented Italy at scrum half in forty two full internationals. He plays for Calvisano.[1]
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Paul Griffen was raised in New Zealand and played his early rugby at Blaketown RFC and at Linwood RFC later representing the West Coast in 2003[2]and Canterbury in 2007 in the National Provincial Championship. In 1999 he left New Zealand and joined Partenope of Naples, a second tier Italian side where he played for one season. Griffen transferred to Calvisano for the start of the 2000-01 season appearing in the Super 10. He was an integral member of the team that won the Super 10 in 2004-05 & 2007-08 and the Coppa Italia in 2003-04. He has now spent over ten seasons at Calvisano
In 2004 he was selected by coach John Kirwan to represent Italy against England in the 2004 Six Nations Championship.[3]Griffen had a successful tournament and was voted Italy’s best player alongside Andrea Lo Cicero. He was replaced as first choice scrum-half by Alessandro Troncon for the 2005 Six Nations Championship appearing as a replacement on two occasions. He remained a regular member of the Italy squad until 2007. The highlight of his career was his selection by Italy coach Pierre Berbizier for the 2007 Rugby World Cup where he appeared in three games. He was omitted from the national team for the 2008 Six Nations Championship but was recalled after a sixteen month absence by the new Italy coach Nick Mallett who recalled Griffen for the 2009 Six Nations Championship where he made four appearances.
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