Elijah Niko
| Date of birth | 11 September 1990 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Wellington New Zealand | ||
| Height | 1.92 m[1] | ||
| Weight | 100kg | ||
| School | St Johns college Hastings | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Current status | |||
| Position(s) | Wing Centre fullback | ||
| Current team | AS Béziers Hérault | ||
| Professional / senior clubs | |||
| Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
| Section Paloise Sporting club albigeois AS Béziers Hérault |
60 | (125)25 tries | |
Elijah Niko (born 11 September 1990) is a New Zealand-born rugby footballer who currently plays rugby union for AS Béziers Hérault in the French Rugby Pro D2 competition.
Playing career
Niko grew up playing rugby league, and in 2007 become the youngest ever player at the age of 16 years to represent the Hawke's Bay Unicorns in their Rugby League Cup matches.[2]
He signed with the New Zealand Warriors in 2008 and played for their under-20s side.[3] He was part of the team that won the 2010 Toyota Cup and ended his under-20s career having scored 21 tries in 36 games.[4]
He joined the Melbourne Storm for the 2011 season also playing for the Easts Tigers club, the feeder club to the Storm where he was named the Queensland Cup winger of the year .[5][6] He later played for the Ellerslie Eagles in the Auckland Rugby League competition.
He later switched to rugby union, he was included in the Australian 7's squad however he opted out of the squad in order to take up a contract in France and signed with Section Paloise in the Top 14 also being part of their promotion after winning the Prod2 championship. As well as being named in the team of the year he was the top try scorer for 2 consecutive years with club totaling 25 tries. He was loaned to Sporting club albigeois in 2016 midway through the 2015/2016 season in the Rugby Pro D2 competition.[7][8] He later signed a three-year contract with AS Béziers Hérault after turning down offers from rival clubs.
Rugby runs in his family with his younger brother kenny Niko a rugby league player.He is also the cousin of Alex Tulou who plays for Castres Olympique Taleta Tupuola who plays for US Montauban and Albert Anae who plays for the ACT Brumbies.
He is of Samoan descent.
References
- ↑ "Elijah Niko | Rugby Union | Players and Officials | ESPN Scrum". En.espn.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
- ↑ Niko eager to make NRL clubs pay attention Hawke's Bay Today, 15 September 2007
- ↑ "RUGBY LEAGUE - One Niko to play in Warriors squad". 6 February 2009 – via New Zealand Herald.
- ↑ "NRL: Warriors unchanged for final". The New Zealand Herald. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ↑ "Storm announce new signings". The Daily Telegraph. UK. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
- ↑ "Home | Live Scores & Latest News". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
- ↑ "Pau's New Zealand winger Elijah Niko runs with the ball during the...". Gettyimages.com. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
- ↑ "Google Translate". Translate.google.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-06-29.