Tawera Nuieia Nikau (born 1 January 1967) is a New Zealand former 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 played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand international representative forward, he played club football at a number of different clubs in New Zealand, England and Australia during his career, including the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

's victory in the

1999 NRL season The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the joint venture of the S ...

Grand Final.

Early years

Nikau was born in

Huntly, New Zealand Huntly () (population ) is a town in the Waikato district and region of the North Island of New Zealand. It was on State Highway 1 (until Huntly bypass opened in March 2020), south of Auckland and north of Hamilton. It is situated on the ...

. He began his career playing rugby league for the

Otara Scorpions The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Founded in 1909, the ARL has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of rugby league in Auckland and beyond. ...

and

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 ...

for the East Tamaki Rugby Union club in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

before his family moved to the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

Playing career

and

representative, Nikau played his early club football for the

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911 Auckland Rugby League season, 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial compet ...

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They play home games at the Olympic Legacy Park and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Sheffield's on ...

York Wasps The York Wasps (known simply as York from 1868 to 1989, Ryedale-York from 1989 to 1996 and York Wasps from 1996 to 2002) was an English professional rugby league club based in York. At the start of the 2002 season, the club was dissolved. A ne ...

(1990-1) and

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

. Tawera Nikau played in

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 ...

's 0–17 defeat by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on Saturday 16 October 1993. Tawera Nikau played in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

's 12–28 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the 1992 Challenge Cup Final during the 1991–92 season at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 2 May 1992, in front of a crowd of 77,386. Tawera Nikau played in

' 33–2 victory over

in the 1993–94 Regal Trophy Final during the 1993–94 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 22 January 1994. He spent the 1988 season with the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

on the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

's "Rookie Scheme". Having already spent several seasons playing in England, during which time he earned representative honours for

, from 1996 to 1999, Nikau played in the Australian NRL, spending the 1996–1997 with the

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

, losing the 1997 Super League Grand Final to the Broncos in Brisbane. He joined the

team in its 1998 inaugural year, helping the team reach a third-place finish in the minor premiership. Melbourne also did well the following season and Nikau played as a in the

1999 NRL Grand Final The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1999 NRL season. It was contested by the competition's two newest clubs: the Melbourne Storm, competing in only its second year (having finished the regular seas ...

victory over the St. George-Illawarra Dragons. Nikau's performance has been credited with sparking Melbourne's second-half comeback. From 1999 to 2001, Nikau was under contract with

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

franchise, the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

. As a player, he was known for his high energy, fearless charges and his sometimes terrifying facial expressions while playing. In defense he was often seen to be "everywhere"; making a tackle on one side of the field and the following the ball to complete a tackle on the other. Nikau suffered a personal tragedy on 5 April 2001, when his wife Letitia died by suicide. After taking some time from rugby to spend with his children in New Zealand, Nikau completed the season. He won in a charity boxing match in June 2002 against Samoan rugby union footballer

Peter Fatialofa Papali'itele Peter Momoe Fatialofa (Samoan language, Samoan: ''Pita Fatialofa'') (26 April 1959 – 6 November 2013) was a Samoan Rugby union, rugby player who captained Samoa in their first Rugby World Cup appearance in 1991. He was among the f ...

, supporting the Yellow Ribbon Fight for Life to prevent youth suicide.

Representative career

Between 1989 and 1997 Nikau was a

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team () has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the Kiwi (bird), native bird of that name. The team' ...

representative, although his international career was hindered by a dispute with

Richie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

that resulted in his refusal to play in the same side as Blackmore. Nikau toured with the New Zealand Māori side in 1996 and 1998 and played at the 1986 Pacific Cup. Nikau attended the 2000 World Cup as captain of the Aotearoa Māori side.''New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98'',

, 1998. p.118 In 2008, Nikau was part of the Pacific Island Barbarians team at the

Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup The Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup is an international wheelchair rugby league tournament contested by the top national teams. The tournament was first held in Australia as part of the 2008 Festival of World Cups and was upgraded to a centr ...

Coaching & RL Administration

In 2004 Nikau was the inaugural coach of the

Waicoa Bay Stallions The Wai-Coa-Bay Stallions were a rugby league team that represent the Upper Central Zone of the New Zealand Rugby League. The Zone comprises four districts: Waikato, Coastline Rugby League, Bay of Plenty, and Gisborne Tairawhiti Rugby League. The ...

in the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Ze ...

. In 2004 and 2005 he coached the

New Zealand Māori rugby league team The New Zealand Māori rugby league team is a rugby league representative side made up of Māori people, New Zealand Māori players. With some controversy, the team participated in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, 2000 World Cup as Aotearoa M ...

. In November 2006, Tawera was appointed New Zealand and Islander Liaison Officer with the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

. In 2010 Nikau was appointed a

selector for two years. Nikau also completed the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

with

Frank Bunce Frank Eneri Bunce (born 4 February 1962) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played international rugby for both Western Samoa and New Zealand in the 1990s, appearing in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He played in four i ...

. In 2011 he was added as a consultant to the board of directors of the newly formed USARL.

Later years

In 2003 Nikau had a motorcycle accident which resulted in an amputation of his right leg. Nevertheless, he participated in the 2004 Yellow Ribbon Fight for Life, defeating Tea Ropati. In that same year, his athletic career to date and the details of the tragedies he had survived were described in the biography ''Standing Tall''. In 2012, Nikau was found guilty of assaulting his estranged daughter Heaven-Leigh outside the

Huntly Huntly ( or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith ...

police station, he was convicted and fined after he failed to get a discharge without conviction. This conviction was later quashed on appeal. Nikau previously worked for

Māori Television Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and previously provided NRL match commentary for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. He is the chief executive of Aotearoa Construction and owner and managing director of Team One Corporate Development, a training company. In 2022, Nikau was the coach that lead the Rugby League team in Match Fit 2 in 2022 after the Rugby Union team was unable to secure an alumni match with the Wallabies alumni due to border restrictions in place due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. They also played a two-day multisport tournament instead of full contact rugby due to social-distancing concerns. In 2023, Nikau participated in season 3 of ''Match Fit'', where former rugby league players return to play against the Australian counterparts. He officially joined in the first season that featured former

stars as the Head Coach. He also admitted that he started becoming a heavy drinker after 2001 when he lost his wife. In 2024, Nikau returned in Nikau participated in season 4 of ''Match Fit'', where former rugby league players return to play against the All Black alumni. He is the Head Coach and narrator for the series.

Honours and awards

In the

2006 Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2006 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2006, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2006.Saint Lucia list: Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before th ...

, Nikau was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to rugby league and the community. In 2008 Nikau was inducted as one of the

NZRL The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

Legends of League. Nikau is also a

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

Hall Of Fame Inductee. He won a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award for emerging leaders in 2011. In 2023, Nikau was inducted as a life member of the Melbourne Storm.

References

External links

Profile at thecastlefordtigers.co.ukWarrington's World Cup heroes – Tawera Nikau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikau, Tawera 1967 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Castleford Tigers players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Halifax Panthers players Junior Kiwis players Melbourne Storm players Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand amputees New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team captains New Zealand Māori rugby league team coaches New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league commentators New Zealand rugby league players Northern Districts rugby league team players Otahuhu Leopards players Otara Scorpions players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Huntly, New Zealand Sheffield Eagles (1984) players Waikato rugby league team coaches Waikato rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players Wheelchair rugby league players York Wasps players