Peter Betham

Background

Betham was born in Wellington, New Zealand to parents of Samoan heritage.

Education

Having attended a public primary school, Peter represented Sydney East PSSA at the State Championships in 2001 at Kiama.

Career

He currently plays for the Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership competition after signing in April 2015. He is also a representative player for Australia in international rugby matches. His usual position is wing or fullback.

His family moved to Australia and he was brought up in Sydney where he started playing rugby with the Coogee Randwick Wombats club at the age of 10.

He played high school rugby for Saint Joseph"s College, Hunters Hill located on Sydney"s Lower North Shore. He became friends with Saint Joseph"s team mate Kurtley Beale and for two years the pair backed up with Kensington in the South Sydney junior rugby league competition.

His team mate 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 and New Zealand with the Australian Schoolboys team In 2007 he played rugby while studying American history at Sydney University, 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.

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 for the 2011 Super Rugby season, 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.

Leicester Tigers

In April 2015 Betham signed for Leicester Tigers. The tigers have utilized Betham in both the outside centre role and on the wing.

Achievements

• Betham played for the Brumbies in the Super 14 competition, but injuries kept him off the field until mid 2009 when he rejoined Sydney University where he helped the club win the Sydney competition that year. He will join them after the 2015 Super Rugby 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.