Liam James Coltman (born 25 January 1990) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a hooker for in Frances's domestic competition

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. Coltman has also previously captained Otago in the NPC, and has played eight tests for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, New Zealand's international rugby team, since his debut in 2016.

Early career

Born and raised in New Plymouth on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, Coltman was educated at

Francis Douglas Memorial College Francis Douglas Memorial College is an all-boys state-integrated Catholic school with boarding facilities located in Westown, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The college was founded in 1959 under the leadership of the De La Salle Brothers, a religio ...

in his hometown, where he played first XV rugby. Coltman's All Black teammate Beauden Barrett was also his teammate in their first XV. During his high school years, he represented his local province, at under-16 and under-18 level. After graduating high school, he moved south to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

to attend the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

and while there he began playing for Alhambra Union in Dunedin's Premier club rugby competition as well as turning out for 's under-18, under-19 and academy sides.

Senior career

Coltman first played provincial rugby for Otago during the 2010 ITM Cup, debuting in a match away to and making six appearances during what was a dismal year for the Razorbacks in which they finished 14th and last on the log to consign themselves to the Championship division in the newly formatted 2011 ITM Cup. Aged just 21 in 2011, he began to establish himself as Otago's first choice in the number 2 jersey, playing in all 10 regular season games, including 6 starts as the men from Dunedin finished 3rd in the Championship, just missing out on the play off spots as New Zealand's domestic season was cut short to accommodate the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

which was taking place in the country. Otago finished 2nd on the Championship log in both

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and were defeated in the final by in 2012 before going down to in the semi-finals the following year. Coltman played 22 of the Razorbacks' 23 games across the 2 seasons and this included 18 starts.

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

was a difficult year for Otago, with an inexperienced side finishing 6th out of 7 teams on the log to miss out on the playoffs altogether, although they did bounce back the following year, ending up in 3rd place before being bettered by in the semi-finals, their 3rd playoff defeat in 4 years. Coltman played 18 games across the 2 seasons and scored 3 tries. He spent a large part of the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season training with the

so was only able to feature in 4 matches for the Razorbacks as they topped the Championship log and made it all the way to the playoff final before being surprisingly defeated at home by .

Super Rugby

A member of the wider training group in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

, Coltman finally made the full squad ahead of the 2013 Super Rugby season. Serving as back up to experienced All Black, Andrew Hore, he managed an impressive 13 appearances, mainly from the replacements bench, during his first campaign of Super Rugby. This apprenticeship served him well as Hore's retirement at the end of 2013 left Coltman as the Highlanders first choice hooker for 2014 Super Rugby season and he started 11 times as his franchise reached the tournament quarter finals before being defeated 31-27 by the in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

was an historic year for the Highlanders as they lifted their first ever Super Rugby title after a 21–14 victory over the in the final. Ash Dixon had been brought in from to provide competition for the number 2 shirt, however Coltman started 15 games to Dixon's 4 and featured in all 19 fixtures during the 'Landers maiden Super Rugby winning season. The competition between Coltman and Dixon continued through

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and with the Highlanders unable to hold on to their title, losing 42–30 to the in the semi-finals, Coltman only started 6 games through the year out of a total of 10 appearances. Coltman started for the Highlanders against the touring British & Irish Lions team on 13 June 2017, contributing heavily towards the Highlanders' narrow 23–22 win and scoring a try in the 59th minute. Coltman was replaced by Greg Pleasants-Tate in the 67th minute.

International

Coltman was a member of the New Zealand Under-20 side which won the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship held in Argentina, scoring 1 try in 5 matches. He was called up to the All Blacks squad to provide injury cover for Nathan Harris during the

2016 Rugby Championship The 2016 Rugby Championship was the fifth edition of the annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, South Africa ...

, but didn't get any game time during the tournament as Dane Coles and Codie Taylor remained fit and in good form. However, during the 2016 end-of-year rugby union internationals, he made his debut, coming on as a 65th minute replacement for Codie Taylor in a 68–10 victory against in Rome. Coltman failed to make the field for the All Blacks during 2017, due to injury, but was re-selected for the three-test 2018 Steinlager series against France after an outstanding Super Rugby season. Coltman replaced Codie Taylor in the 71st minute of the series' final test, on 23 June 2018. Coltman did not make a mistake as the All Blacks beat France 49–14, winning the series 3–0. After a series of excellent performances throughout the

2019 Super Rugby season The 2019 Super Rugby season was the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season was the second season using the ...

, Coltman overtook Nathan Harris as New Zealand's third-choice hooker. He made two appearances off the bench during the 2019 Rugby Championship, with Dane Coles still struggling with injuries. On 28 August 2019, All Blacks Head Coach,

Steve Hansen Sir Stephen William Hansen and High Chief of Vaiala, (born 7 May 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is also the father of Black Ferns assistant coach, Whitney Hansen. He was the head coach of the New Zealand na ...

, named Coltman in New Zealand's 31-man squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Coltman made his first-ever start for New Zealand during the pool stages, in a 63–0 win over Canada. Although Coltman didn't play in any other tests during the pool stages, he replaced Dane Coles off the bench during the 24th minute of the Bronze Final. Coltman was one of the star performers of the match, with New Zealand beating Wales 40–17 in the bronze final, claiming third place at the World Cup.

Honours

New Zealand Under-20 * IRB Junior World Championship –

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Highlanders *

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

–

New Zealand *

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby foot ...

**Third-place:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Super Rugby statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coltman, Liam Living people 1990 births Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from New Plymouth Otago rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at Francis Douglas Memorial College University of Otago alumni Lyon OU Rugby players 2019 Rugby World Cup players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in France Utah Warriors players