Nicky Tyrone Little (born 13 September 1976) in Tokoroa, New Zealand, is a

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 ...

footballer. He plays 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– ...

. He is a nephew of

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 ...

centre Walter Little, but represents Fiji at international level.

Career

He has scored 652 points for Fiji and is the Pacific region's second highest point scorer of players who are currently active. He previously played for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and North Harbour in New Zealand provincial rugby, before moving to England where he played for the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

in late 1999. He signed with

Dax Dax or DAX may refer to: Business and organizations * DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies ** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX ** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms * Dax ...

in France, but soon moved to

Pontypridd () (colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng (Trallwn) and Treforest (). The ...

, before signing with the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

. Little made his test debut for

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in 1996 in a match against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, at just 19 years of age. He finished the 2000 and 2001 Pacific Rim tournaments as the top points scorer. He entered the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

as Fiji's all-time highest points scorer, with 488 points. He got four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Fiji at the 2003 World Cup, scoring a total of 45 points in those games. At the 2007 event he starred as Fiji defeated

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

to reach the quarter-finals, but was injured late in the final group game, after straining his medial knee ligaments and missed the quarter-final. On 15 July 2009, it was announced that Little had signed a one-year deal with

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, with Head Coach

Steve Meehan Stephen Meehan is an Australian professional rugby union football coach. He is currently an assistant coach at Toulon in the Top 14 competition in France, and was formerly in charge of Bath Rugby in the English Premiership. He was head coach o ...

stating that he would be in the squad for the tour to Portugal in late July 2009. On 26 February 2010 it was announced that Little would be playing for

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

from the 2010–11 season onwards. But at the end of the 2010/2011 season it was announced that Little would be part of the clearout of players departing Bristol Rugby. At the midpoint of the 2011/12 season, it was announced that Little was joining RFU Championship side Esher RFC. At the start of the 2012/13 season Little became part of a joint venture with

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys (also known as The Langton Grammar School for Boys and simply referred to as The Langton) is an 11–18 foundation grammar school for boys and mixed sixth form in Canterbury, Kent, England. It was establish ...

, and

The Canterbury High School The Canterbury Academy is a co-educational 11-19 academy school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a specialist Sports College and 15% of its 1081 pupils are selected on musical aptitude. The school was founded as a non-selective secondary moder ...

. Canterbury's Elite Rugby Player Development Centre, headed by Little, is the first of its kind within the country and its aim is to develop grass roots rugby within the area.

References

External links