Bay of Plenty product Briton Nikora began 2019 as a relative unknown. He finished the season entrenched in Cronulla’s back-row with four New Zealand Test caps under his belt.
Nikora moved to the Gold Coast with his family in 2007 and honed his rugby league skills at famed breeding ground Keebra Park State High School. He caught the Sharks’ eye and scored 16 tries in 25 under-20s games for the club in 2016-17, earning a place in the NYC Team of the Year and representing the Junior Kiwis in the latter season.
After spending 2018 with feeder club Newtown Jets, Nikora was a second-row starter for the Sharks in Round 1 of the 2019 NRL season. He immediately impressed with his ability to hit a hole – making seven line-breaks his first five games – and formed a lethal combination with playmaker Shaun Johnson on the right edge.
The pair reprised their partnership on the international stage in June when Nikora received a Kiwis call-up for the Mt Smart showdown with Tonga after just 12 NRL appearances. The 21-year-old wore the No.12 jumper, running for over 100 metres and racking up 25 tackles in a strong debut as the Kiwis prevailed 34-14.
Nikora featured in all but one of Cronulla’s 25 games and finished a stellar rookie year with seven tries. The tyro then starred for New Zealand during the inaugural World Cup Nines and retained his second-row spot for all three of the Kiwis’ post-season internationals against Australia and Great Britain, enhancing his reputation as a hardworking defender as well as a dangerous ball-runner.
Nikora featured in Māori All Stars’ victory over Indigenous All Stars during the 2020 pre-season, while he scored six tries and averaged 33 tackles in 16 games in his sophomore NRL campaign for the Sharks.
After representing the Māori All Stars again in 2021, the 23-year-old brought up his 50th appearance for Cronulla, playing 22 of the Sharks’ 24 games and crossing for four tries. He was later named in the Kiwis’ wider squad for the following year’s World Cup.
Nikora was a mainstay of the Sharks’ push to the top four in 2022 and was one of just four survivors from the Kiwis’ previous Test three years earlier to be named in the 17 to take on Tonga in the mid-season Test in Auckland. He made a busy contribution off the bench in New Zealand’s 26-6 win.
Scoring a maiden NRL hat-trick as Cronulla secured a second-placed finish in 2022, the back-row mainstay featured in the clubs playoffs campaign before setting off to England with the Kiwis’ World Cup squad. Nikora made it 10 consecutive Test appearances by featuring in all five matches; he scored a try against Jamaica, started at centre against Ireland, came off the bench to score a vital try in the quarter-final escape against Fiji, and was in the second-row for the gallant semi-final loss to Australia.
Nikora maintained his form despite the Sharks’ slight downturn in 2023, passing the 100-game milestone in the NRL and crossing for eight tries in 25 appearances, as well as representing Māori All Stars for a fourth straight year. He was one of the most experienced engine-room campaigners named in a youthful Kiwis squad for the Pacific Championships.
Maintaining his impressive tryscoring strike-rate by dotting down in the 50-0 win over Samoa and the 36-18 loss to Australia, Nikora made a line-break and ran for 111 metres in the Kiwis spectacular 30-0 rout of the Kangaroos in the Hamilton-hosted final.
