Peter Betham (born 6 January 1989) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for the

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

in the ProD2. He was a representative player for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in international rugby matches. His usual position is

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or fullback.

Family and early career

Betham was born in

Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, to parents of Samoan heritage. His family moved to Australia and he was brought up in Sydney where he started playing rugby league with the

Coogee Randwick Wombats The Coogee Randwick Wombats are an Australian rugby league football team based in Coogee, New South Wales and Randwick, New South Wales a suburb of south-central Sydney and play in the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League. Notable ...

club at the age of 10. He played high school rugby for St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill located on Sydney's

Lower North Shore In Australia, Lower North Shore refers to the affluent northern suburbs of Sydney adjoining Sydney Harbour. The three bodies of water that surround the Lower North Shore are Lane Cove River on its western border, Sydney Harbour on its south side, ...

. He became friends with St. Joseph's teammate

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

and for two years the pair backed up with Kensington in the South Sydney junior rugby league competition. Having attended a public primary school, Peter represented Sydney East PSSA at the State Championships in 2001 at Kiama. His teammate Rob Horne and Peter went on to represent NSW PSSA that year. Betham played for NSW Schools in the 2005 National U16 Championship. He subsequently played for the Australia A Schools team that went on to beat New Zealand. In 2006 Betham toured

Fiji Fiji, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and New Zealand with the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

team. In 2007 he played rugby while studying American history at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, he played rugby for Wesley College and was selected in the Australian U19 Rugby World Championship squad. He also became a holder of an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship, one of 26.

Rugby union career

Betham played for the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

in the

Super 14 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition, but injuries kept him off the field until mid 2009 when he rejoined

where he helped the club win the Sydney competition that year. In 2010 he continued to play for Sydney Uni, and trained with the Waratahs' squad, as an "unsigned winger" and played in several Tahs' pre-season games. In March 2010 Betham signed with the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

for the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

, with Rebels assistant coach Damian Hill describing him as "one of the most dynamic and athletic young backs" in Australian rugby. He spent 2011 in Victoria before returning to NSW. In February 2012 Betham was named to play on the wing in the Tahs' pre-season match against Tonga. In April 2015 Betham signed for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

. He will join them after the

2015 Super Rugby The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New ...

season finishes mid-2015. Betham marked his Tigers' debut with a try in their opening win of the season over London Irish in October 2015. The tigers have used Betham in both the outside centre role and on the wing. In January 2017 Betham signed a new contract to stay at the club. In May 2017 Betham signed a contract with

Clermont Auvergne Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French professional rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two t ...

for two years. On 11 March 2021, Betham would leave Clermont to sign for

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

side

ahead of the 2021-22 season.

References

External links

Waratahs profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betham, Peter 1989 births Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Melbourne Rebels players New South Wales Waratahs players Tasman rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Australian sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand emigrants to Australia Living people Sydney Stars players Leicester Tigers players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Australian expatriate rugby union players in France ASM Clermont Auvergne players Rugby union players from Wellington City Provence Rugby players Sydney University Football Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen