Years Club / team Height 1.92 m | Position(s) Wing Centre fullback Club / team Caps Weight 100 kg | |
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Date of birth (1990-09-11) 11 September 1990 (age 26) School St Johns college Hastings, Sacred Heart College | ||
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.
He signed with the New Zealand Warriors in 2008 and played for their under-20s side. 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.
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 . 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. He later signed a three-year contract with AS Béziers Hérault.
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.
