Miah Nikora (born 28 April 1985 in Gisborne,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a professional

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 ...

player and head coach from New Zealand. He currently is head coach of Civil Projects Solutions Poverty Bay senior rugby club. He primarily played at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

, though he has also played at fullback. Nikora formerly played for the Irish provincial team

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

. Nikora is a former New Zealand Under-21, Under-19 and Secondary Schools representative. He first came to prominence playing in the

Gisborne Boys' High School Gisborne Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school situated in Gisborne, New Zealand. It was founded as a co-educational school in 1909 as Gisborne High School. In 1956, the school became Gisborne Boys' High School when it was split into two ...

First XV. Nikora became eligible to play for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

from the end of the 2011–12 season under the three-year residency rule.

Club career

Career in New Zealand

After starting out at

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa'') is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the north ...

he moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. In 2006 Nikora was loaned by

Tasman Rugby Union The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with ...

for two years, at the completion of which Tasman was planning to sign Nikora for a further period. However, a condition in the loan agreement stated that if either

Jimmy Gopperth James Gopperth (born 29 June 1983) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby, England's top tier. His regular playing positions are Centre and fly-half and he has played over 400 profe ...

Tamati Ellison Tamati Edward Ellison (born 1 April 1983) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. Career Domestic Ellison was born in Wellington, and made his debut for the Wellington Lions in the 2003 NPC final defeat against Auckland. He also captained ...

got injured or made 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 ...

for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

, Wellington could recall Nikora. During Round Two of the

2006 Air New Zealand Cup The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the inaugural season of the Air New Zealand Cup, contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top team from ''Repechage A'' and ''B'' joine ...

was injured and Nikora was drafted back to

. He was then named in the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

' wider training group for the

2007 Super 14 The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The ...

Connacht

Nikora joined Irish side

for the start of the 2009–10 season to provide competition for

Ian Keatley Ian James T. Keatley (born 1 April 1987) is an Irish rugby union player. He plays primarily as a fly-half, but can also play as a centre or fullback. Early life Keatley was born in Dublin, where he was educated at Belvedere College and Unive ...

. Nikora made 11 appearances in his debut league campaign, At European level, Nikora played in six of Connacht's eight 2009–10 Challenge Cup games as they reached the semi-finals,. In the 2010–11 season a new coach,

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin, star ...

. Nikora played 16 games in the

2010–11 Celtic League The 2010–11 Magners League was the tenth Celtic League season and the fifth with Magners as title sponsor. The regular season began on 3 September 2010 and finished on the weekend of 6–8 May 2011. During these stages, each team played every ot ...

In the 2010–11 European Challenge Cup, Nikora started three of Connacht's six games and featured from the bench in another two. In the following season Nikora competed with Niall O'Connor for the number 10 jersey, as Keatley left Connacht to join

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. Nikora played in ten

2011–12 Pro12 The 2011–12 Pro12 League (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the second with its current 12-team format, and also the first w ...

games, starting eight of these and scoring 75 points. In Europe, the season marked Connacht's first time to play in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, the highest level of European rugby. Nikora played in three games in the 2011–12

, starting twice. The 2012–13 season saw former international fly-half

Dan Parks Daniel Arthur Parks (born 26 May 1978) is an Australian-born former international rugby union player and now coach. His primary playing position was at fly-half. Parks played professionally for Pro12 sides Glasgow Warriors, Cardiff Blues an ...

join Connacht, limiting Nikora's role in the side. Nikora came on as a replacement in four

2012–13 Heineken Cup The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with t ...

games, while in the

2012–13 Pro12 The 2012–13 Pro12 League (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th season of the rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the third with its current 12-team format, and the second with Ra ...

, he appeared 12 times. The following season was also a frustrating one for Nikora. Eric Elwood departed the province to be replaced by

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

, but in September 2013, before he had played his first match of the season, Nikora picked up a shoulder injury. It later emerged that the shoulder would require surgery and could mean missing up to five months of the season. Nikora played no part in the

2013–14 Heineken Cup The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17–19 ...

, and ultimately did not play in the 2013–14 Pro12 until 23 February 2014 against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

, when he came on as a replacement. Nikora made four more appearances from the bench and three starts before the end of the season.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikora, Miah 1985 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Connacht Rugby players Rugby union players from Gisborne, New Zealand Taranaki rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Tasman rugby union players People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School

Club career

Career in New Zealand

Connacht

See also

External links