'Wasn't big enough or fast enough': The 'average' centre who is the Crusaders newest halfback
“You can either be an average centre or a really good halfback,” Noah Hotham laughs when recalling a conversation with dad about his rugby future with RugbyPass.
The promising teenager had quit soccer at intermediate and knew he was good enough to make headway in rugby but wasn’t sure where.
His father Nigel Hotham suggested playing nine.
“I’m short like Dad and wasn’t big enough or fast enough to play in midfield so halfback with my touch background was a good fit, ” Hotham said.
“Initially I hated it.”
Noah soon blossomed with the sound advice of Dad, just one fledgling youngster that has benefited from a Nigel Hotham pep talk.
For two decades Nigel Hotham has run the Hamilton Boys’ High School First XV and premier sevens teams. They have won more national titles in both formats than any school in the country.
Noah Hotham is another product of the ‘factory’ that has produced countless first class players and recent All Blacks Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Quinn Tupaea and Josh Lord.
He followed the traditional pathway at Hamilton Boys’ jumping from 14A to 15A and then the First XV in his final two years of college. The difference for Noah was his intimate connection with the coach. How did Noah handle a grumpy parent after a bad practice?
“I got asked that question a lot from the boys and honestly it wasn’t too bad. When Dad was angry about rugby it was obvious, so you didn’t broach that subject.
“When I was in Year 13 and more of a leader in the team Dad was able to give me some more insight into what was going well and what wasn’t. That was helpful better understanding what he and the boys were going through. Some of the best conversations we had about rugby were driving to practice in the morning.”
In 2019 Hamilton won the Super 8 competition for leading boys’ schools in the Central North Island. They were favourites to take out the National Top Four competition in Palmerston North. In the semi-final however they were beaten 11-10 by eventual winners Hastings Boys’ High who they’d toppled twice in the Super 8.
An unbeaten four-match tour of Japan went some way towards easing the pain of not delivering a national title and was also the catalyst for an undefeated 2020 season which ended lamely due to Covid.
“We were pretty pissed off the Top Four was called off. Some of the players even wrote emails about it, but there wasn’t much we could. We were just frustrated after a great season we didn’t get a chance to fix what happened in 2019.”
The disappointment for Noah was short-lived. A National Development contract and place at the Highlanders while studying Applied Science at University was the launchpad for New Zealand Under 20s selection.
In 2022 he was exceptional for the ‘Baby Blacks’ who cleaned up the Oceania Championships against Fiji (74-5), Argentina (32-9) and Australia (69-12) in July. Noah scored tries in the Fiji and Aussie wins.
His form didn’t go unrecognised by the Crusaders. The departure of centurion Bryn Hall had the reigning champions sniffing for Noah, by late July they had their man for three years.
“I agonised over that decision for about three weeks. It’s properly the hardest call I’ve had to make in my life. I asked a lot of friends and family about it,” Hotham said.
“The Highlanders did so much for me and Aaron Smith and Folau Fakatava were good mentors but their All Blacks and with a couple of good young halfbacks behind them, the competition was really tough.”
Hotham was unwanted by Otago for the NPC. With Tasman this year he was named by the New Zealand Rugby Players Association as their Young Player of the Year.
Mitchell Drummond and former England halfback Willie Heinz are the other halfbacks on the Crusaders roster, they don’t appear to be as imposing as Smith and Fakatava.
“They’re good players and I’m going to have to work hard to earn my place. I haven’t figured out yet what exactly makes the Crusaders tick. I haven’t been here long enough, but they do bring such a high level of expectation with everything they do. They are really detailed and hammer the basics,” he said.
How about his initial response to Scott ‘Razor’ Roberston, architect of 86 out of 101 Super Rugby victories and six consecutive titles.
“When you first meet him, you wouldn’t think we was a rugby coach. He’s down to earth and he’s got this beachey, surfer dude vibe, but wow when it comes to coaching, he’s a real orchestrator. All the coaches are really involved and thorough.”
In his spare time, Noah enjoys the beach, skating, and photography.
The Crusaders 2022 training concludes on Friday, and they resume on January 9 next year. Their first pre-season fixture is against the Highlanders in Oamaru.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments