Highlanders confirm departure of All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman to France
The Highlanders have confirmed that eight-test All Blacks hooker Liam Coltman will leave the side for France after the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Coltman has signed a two-year deal with Top 14 club Lyon, where he will join former All Blacks and Highlanders teammate Lima Sopoaga, as well as fellow Kiwi stars Jordan Taufua, Charlie Ngatai and Toby Arnold.
In doing so, the 32-year-old will soon bring an end to his decade-long stay with the Highlanders, during which time he has racked up 135 matches for the franchise.
Chief among the highlights from that period include a Super Rugby title won in 2015, as well as a famous win over the British & Irish Lions in 2017.
Coltman’s performances for the Highlanders earned him an All Blacks debut in 2016, when he came off the bench in a 68-10 win over Italy in Rome.
He went on to play a total of eight tests for the All Blacks, the last of which came in the 2019 World Cup bronze final against Wales.
A World U20 Championship winner with New Zealand in 2010, Coltman has also accrued 73 caps for Otago in the NPC, and was part of the team that ended the province’s 56-year wait for Ranfurly Shield success in 2013.
As such, Coltman will leave a lasting impression with all the teams he has featured for following his first-class debut 12 years ago.
“I have so many people to thank for the career I have had in Dunedin,” Coltman said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“The great coaches, great players and great mates will mean that I will always think of Dunedin as my rugby home. I never thought of the hard work I do as being a sacrifice in anyway, it’s what I chose to do and what I love doing.
“I never thought I would have all the wonderful opportunities in life that my rugby career has given me, and I am just so grateful to have had them.
“I feel the time is right for me and my family to have some new adventures and we are looking forward to spending time in another country and all the experiences and challenges that will bring.
“I will always be a Highlander at heart, no matter where I am.”
Highlanders head coach Tony Brown said that Coltman embodied the values of what it means to be a Highlander ever since his first involvement with the team as a wider training squad member in 2011.
“We like our players to be Highlander men and to demonstrate what that means on daily basis,” Brown, Coltman’s long-time coach and former Otago teammate, said.
“Colty will always spring to my mind as a player that I would call a Highlander man. Since day one and throughout his entire time with the club he has been the consummate professional.
“He prepares well every week and consistently delivers a 100 percent effort every time he takes the field. As a coach you can’t ask for more than that.
“Off the field young players need only look to him to see how you professionally manage a decade-plus rugby career.
“He has earned the respect of his fellow players, coaches, and everybody at this club for his approach and of course he does it all with a smile.”
Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark echoed Brown’s sentiments as he emphasised the significance of Coltman’s long-standing spell at the franchise.
“Rain, hail or shine you could always count on Colty to have a smile on his face and be giving it everything in training or playing,” Clark said.
“To play for over 10 years in the front row for one team is an extraordinary effort and as a club we recognise how fortunate we have been to have Colty for such a long period of time.
“As a club we acknowledge the significant positive contribution he has made and we wish him, his wife Aleisha and children Ruby and Tilly all the very best in France.”
News of Coltman’s defection to Lyon comes a day after it was announced that All Blacks and Blues prop Karl Tu’inukuafe will also leave New Zealand for France this year after having agreed to join Montpellier.
Coltman still has at least two regular season matches remaining in his Highlanders career as the sides looks to cement its playoffs status with a win over the Waratahs in Dunedin on Sunday.
Comments on RugbyPass
The value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
3 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
10 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
39 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
10 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
39 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
3 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
39 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
51 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
39 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
39 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
39 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
39 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to comments