Reds sign young gun to new deal

IZAIA Perese’s three- try heroics for Australia Under- 20s have made his new two- year deal at the Queensland Reds look an even wiser call.

Securing one of Australia’s most potent young attackers until after the 2019 World Cup is an essential building block for the Reds to keep improving their backline sparkle.

It can be revealed a fresh contract with Perese was agreed to before his eye- catching hat- trick on Tuesday when he dominated Australia’s 42- 19 victory over Italy in Georgia at the World Under- 20 Championships.

The match was just four minutes old when Perese, 20, swooped on a loose ball, instantly summed up a fractured defensive line and veered, stepped and fended his way to the tryline 70m downfield.

The best of his tries highlighted exactly why Reds coach Nick Stiles has backed Perese for 10 games on the wing in his rookie season with a smart workload balance of six starts and four games off the bench.

“Izaia is an awesome athlete and a great human being with a lot of top rugby ahead of him,” Australian Under- 20s coach Simon Cron said of the man he will play at outside centre in Sunday’s fifth- placed showdown against Scotland ( 8.30pm, Fox Sports 501).

Perese’s two long- range strikes against the Southern Kings at Suncorp Stadium in April were a taste of the raw talent the Reds will keep developing.

Perese’s average ball security when tackled is still a blemish on his game and he’ll need to work on the flaw that was again exposed in last week’s lost pool game to England, who will face New Zealand in Sunday’s final.

Queensland flanker Liam Wright had a fine game against Italy and threw the final pass for two of the Perese tries.