Elijah Niko (born 11 September 1990) is a New Zealand

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

player who currently plays

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for The Stade Aurilacois.

Career

Niko grew up playing

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. In 2005 while still in High School Niko become the youngest ever player at the age of 16 years and 2 months to represent the

Hawke's Bay Unicorns The Hawke's Bay rugby league team are a New Zealand rugby league team that represents the Hawke's Bay Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They are nicknamed the Unicorns. They competed in the Lion Red Cup between 1994 and 1996. ...

in the Batercard Cup premiership competition.Niko eager to make NRL clubs pay attention
''Hawke's Bay Today'', 15 September 2007 He signed with the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in 2008 and played for their under-20s side. He was part of the team that won the 2010 Toyota Cup. He ended his Warriors career having scored 21 tries in 36 games. He joined the Melbourne Storm for the 2011 season also playing for the

Easts Tigers The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where ...

club, the feeder club to the Storm where he was named the Queensland Cup winger of the year . Niko later switched codes to

He signed a contract to play in France with

Section Paloise Section Paloise (, Bearnese: ), commonly referred to as ''Section'' or as ''Pau'' , is a professional rugby union club based in Pau, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the EPCR Challenge Cup. Their home g ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

. As well as being named in the team of the year he was the top try scorer for 2 consecutive years with the club totaling 25 tries. He won the French championship with

in 2015 with their victory over Montauban. He later signed a three-year contract with

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hos ...

. On 27 November 2018, Niko was granted an immediate release from his contract to join Yorkshire Carnegie in the RFU Championship for the 2018–19 season. Rumors were circulating about a possible return to Rugby League with Niko seen training with

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

numerous times. Niko signed for Ealing Trailfinders for the 2019–20 season. He signed for

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro ...

ahead of the 2020–21 season. In 2021 Niko was included in the

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

squad ahead of their one-off match against the Barbarians. In May 2023 Niko made his

7s debut during the final leg of the HSBC world 7s in London picking up a medal with their victory over the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

7s.

Personal life

. He is the cousin of current Rugby players Alex Tulou, Taleta Tupuola, Mathew Luamanu and Albert Anae. He is also the cousin of New Zealand singer and songwriter Victor J Sefo. He is of Samoan descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niko, Elijah 1990 births Living people Ellerslie Eagles players Hawke's Bay rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby league players from Wellington City Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Wellington City Rugby union wings New Zealand expatriates in France New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Eastern Suburbs Tigers players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent People educated at St John's College, Hastings Section Paloise players