Nicholas Paul Holten (born 10 March 1973) is a New Zealand former professional

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.

Early life

Born to Dutch immigrant parents in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, Holten is the third youngest of 14 siblings and was raised on a dairy farm in the community of Orini. He picked up rugby during his schoolboy years in Fairfield. While working as a drainlayer in 1994, Holten had his right hand crushed between pipes in a workplace accident, leaving four of his fingers mangled. Doctors were able to save his hand, though he continued to have hampered movement in two middle fingers.

Rugby union career

A flanker, Holten made his debut for

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

in 1995. He briefly tried his hand at a code switch two years later when he joined Australian rugby league club

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

. Returning to rugby union, Holten played under former All Black

Geoff Old Geoffrey Haldane Old (born 22 January 1956) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. Predominantly a number eight, Old represented Taranaki briefly and then Manawatu at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, ...

on the Netherlands national team in 1998, for a series of Rugby World Cup qualifying matches. He competed for the Chiefs between 1998 and 2000, making 20 appearances in Super 12 competition. Holten played for several years in Japan with

Toshiba Brave Lupus Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Mic ...

and afterwards moved into coaching. He replaced countryman Dave Dillon as head coach of the Kobelco Kobe Steelers for their 2022–23 Japan Rugby League One campaign, then stood aside after season as the club recruited former Wallabies coach

Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023–24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Austral ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holten, Nick 1973 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand rugby union coaches Netherlands international rugby union players New Zealand people of Dutch descent Waikato rugby union players Chiefs (Super Rugby) players Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Japan Rugby union players from Hamilton, New Zealand Rugby union flankers