Briton Nikora (born 7 December 1997) is a New Zealand professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a forward for the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the New Zealand Māori at international level. Regarded as one of the best back-rowers in the game, he is known for his power, speed, and ability to break up opposition defence.

Background

Nikora was born in

Mount Maunganui Mount Maunganui (, ) is a major residential, commercial and industrial suburb of Tauranga located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completion of the Tauranga Harb ...

, Tauranga, New Zealand.

Playing career

2018

Nikora played his junior football at Keebra Park on the Gold Coast, before being signed by the

. Nikora played in Cronulla's Holden cup teams in 2016 & the 2017 Junior Kiwis, in 2018 he was named in Cronulla's first grade squad and played Canterbury Cup NSW for Cronulla's feeder club Newtown.

2019

On 15 March 2019 Nikora made his

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

debut for Cronulla-Sutherland against the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

at Hunter stadium in a 14-8 loss. Nikora made 24 appearances for Cronulla in the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

as the club finished 7th on the table and qualified for the finals. Nikora played in the club's elimination final defeat against Manly at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval, currently known as 4 Pines Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Brookvale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the M ...

2020

In round 20 of the

2020 NRL season The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 14th consecutive year. ; Notes : : : Pre-season ...

, Nikora scored two tries in a 38-28 loss to Canberra at Kogarah Oval. The result saw Cronulla finish 8th on the table and qualify for the finals.

2021

Nikora played 22 games for Cronulla in the

2021 NRL season The 2021 NRL season was the 114th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 15th consecutive year. Regular season Ladd ...

which saw the club narrowly miss the finals by finishing 9th on the table.

2022

In round 25 of the

2022 NRL season The 2022 NRL season was the 115th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 25th season run by the National Rugby League. Teams The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 16th consecutive year. This became the second longest ...

, Nikora scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in Cronulla's 38-16 victory over

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. Nikora played 24 games for Cronulla throughout the season as the club finished second on the table. Nikora played in both finals games as Cronulla were eliminated in straight sets.

2023

Nikora played a total of 25 games for Cronulla in the

2023 NRL season The 2023 NRL season was the 116th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 26th season run by the National Rugby League. The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, the longest in league history, followed by a finals series ...

as they finished sixth on the table. Nikora played in the clubs 13-12 upset loss against the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

which ended their season.

2024

In round 27 of the

2024 NRL season The 2024 NRL season was the 117th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 27th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The season consisted of 27 competition rounds, followed by a finals series contested by the top eight ...

, Nikora scored two tries for Cronulla in their 40-20 victory over Manly in the "Battle of the Beaches" game. Nikora played 25 games for Cronulla in the

as the club finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals. Nikora played in all three of Cronulla's finals matches including their preliminary final loss against Penrith. On 8 November, the Sharks announced that Nikora had re-signed with the club until the end of 2027.

2025

In round 5 of the

2025 NRL season The 2025 NRL season is the 118th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 28th season run by the National Rugby League (NRL). The regular season will be followed by a finals series contested by the top eight teams on the competiti ...

, Nikora scored two tries for Cronulla in their narrow 24-20 loss against Canberra.

Statistics

NRL

: *denotes season competing

All Star

International

References

External links

Cronulla Sharks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikora, Briton 1997 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Junior Kiwis players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players People educated at Keebra Park State High School Rugby league players from Tauranga Rugby league second-rows