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One of Canada’s brightest prospects has signed a long-term contract with French Top 14 club Stade Français. Will Percillier joined the team in January on a short-term deal and the scrumhalf has now earned a senior academy contract that will keep him in Paris until at least the end of the 2021-22 season.
Percillier, 20, has been a standout with Canada’s u20 side for the past two years and remains eligible again in 2019 though he may instead find himself preparing for a different World Rugby tournament. After being called into the senior Canadian side for the Americas Rugby Championship he won two caps as a replacement and impressed with his speed and aggressive attacking style.
Born in Bordeaux to a French father and Canadian mother, Percillier spent much of his youth in Hong Kong and Singapore before moving to Vancouver Island where he attended Brentwood College. He would play age-grade club rugby for Capilano and then for the UBC Thunderbirds in the CDI Premier League before making the jump to France.
There are now four Canadians on Top 14 academy deals. Tighthead prop Matt Tierney and lock/flanker Matt Beukeboom are at Pau, with uncapped second row Quentin James at Perpignan.
Fans will be hoping that Percillier’s career achieves the heights of another Canadian scrumhalf, Morgan Williams, who played three seasons at Stade Français beginning in 2000. Second row Mike James, father of Quentin, won three French Championships with the club where he stayed for seven years until his retirement following the 2007 World Cup.
