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Noah Hotham earns major praise from All Blacks great after debut
By Ned Lester
Few men are as qualified to deliver a verdict on a young All Blacks halfback as 80-Test No. 9 Justin Marshall, who offered a glowing report card for the next generation of Kiwi halfback talent after seeing them take the field across the Steinlager Series.
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Four halfbacks were played over the three matches, as injuries befell TJ Perenara, Finlay Christie and Cortez Ratima, leading to a call-up for 21-year-old Noah Hotham.
But there was a fifth scrumhalf in All Blacks camp in Auckland too. Cam Roigard was seen getting some work in with the squad ahead of the second England Test.
There is little concern over the depth of the position, and while it is Roigard who is expected to lead the next generation of talent in Aaron Smith’s famous black nine jersey, there are a number of fellow youngsters snapping at his heels.
Hotham’s rise to the international arena comes just a year after he graced the world stage at the U20 World Championships, impressing as captain for New Zealand.
Hotham made the leap seamlessly in the eyes of Marshall.
“I though in a situation that he wasn’t expecting, to be thrust into the game when it still wasn’t clearly and conclusively won, Noah Hotham did really, really well,” Matshall told SENZ’ The Rugby Run.
“I mentioned it in commentary when he came on, because of injury, it’s really easy to overplay your hand but he showed really good maturity, made a couple of nice breaks, his clearance was really good, as was his kicking game.
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“He just slotted in there seamlessly, pretty much like Cortez Ratima did the week before when Finlay Christie got injured.
“Whilst there was some more razzle-dazzle in some other performances for the All Blacks, I look at the bigger picture and I thought that Noah Hotham deserves my Kubota Play of the Round.”
Hotham was one of six debutants on the night, being joined by George Bell, Pasilio Tosi, Sam Darry, Wallace Sititi and Billy Proctor.
He was also one of five Hamilton Boys High School alumni to feature in the contest, saying after the match it was surreal to see so many familiar faces half way around the world.
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“It’s awesome, when I was younger you had Caleb Muntz who was plating for Fiji, he was in my tutor group, you had Sevu Reece, the likes of Emoni (Narawa), all these boys helps make it a little more familiar,” Hotham told The Crowd Goes Wild.
“You’ve got to pinch yourself, the fact we’re actually in San Diego versing each other.”
He also mentioned how special the day would be for his family.
“For sure, all my whanau back home, my dad and all his family will be stoked hopefully, at the pub probably having a few Waikato Draughts. Hopefully I can put a smile on their face.”
Justin Marshall pumps every Crusaders candidate for the AB’s and often maligns any player standing in their way. It’s really tiresome.
The All Blacks coaching/selection panel made up entirely of former Crusaders coaches should be enough without the sideline cheerleaders.
No Complaints about Kirwan then, if he can pick a blues players, regardless of their merit he will.
And Marshall is the anti crusader when he commentates, always throwing doubt on any penalty given to the crusaders, “ it’s just unlucky” etc and any penalty given to the opposition is richly deserved and maybe should have been a card.
Also does this with the All Blacks, he is so intent on showing no bias towards his home teams, he ends up biased against them, hopeless commentator.
Ironically I think Marshall is ok in that regard
Quite often does the opposite but yes if it’s the one “ick” feeling I have is the all Canterbury coaching panel
Not doubting their ability
I’m still undecided on Scott Barrett as captain but will wait and see
I get the rationale behind it though
But yeah to see Hotham gets some “play of the round” award when other debutants were clearly better
Normally I'd be right with you about the Crusader's “mafia”, but you know what, the kid's got the goods. He plays like an experienced guy who has the fearlessness of youth. His option taking is on the money and he has that latent threat all the goody's have.
Roigard, Ratima and Noah are going to see us climb back to the top.
Go the All Blacks.
Well, the Chiefs Foster/Cane trainwreck led the ABs into oblivion. Thank goodness for that Crusader guy Jase Ryan for getting some steel back into the pack & making us competitive at RWC23. It still didn’t do much to help the Chiefs Foster/Cane era ending up with the useless-ess win rate of 69.57%. Good riddance.
Also, Marshie isn’t involved with the ABs, he can say what he likes. All he’s doing is stating the obvious - Hotham, a kid from the Waikato no less, did well. Why get offended?
Yep 100% agree. It becomes very tiresome. Ratima was exceptional and showed a better pass than Hothem. Hothem does look good and with Roigard the 3 will be NZs 9s for many years to come.