Elliott Smith: ZB sports commentator on the death of former All Black and Dancing with the Stars winner Norm Hewitt

Tributes are flooding in following the death of nine-test All Blacks hooker Norm Hewitt.

Hewitt was involved in one of the most monumental face-to-face haka confrontations with England's Richard Cockerill at Old Trafford in November 1997.

He went on to win the inaugural Dancing With The Stars in 2005, which included a flawless paso doble

Hewitt died of motor neurone disease, aged 55.

ZB sports commentator Elliott Smith highlighted more of Hewitt's accomplishments.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Really sad news today. Norm Hewitt for All All Black, Well, no,
it's being a I think the first ever champion of
Dancing with the Stars, big public campaigner for public health messages,
passing away at the age of fifty five after suffering
mode of neurone disease. Alex Smith is on Sports Talk
tonight and is with us now. This is a real
shock to me.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, really really sad when that news began filtering through
this morning. And wonderful player on the park and remembered
for so many different things. I guess throughout his career
that I remember that confrontation he had with Richard cockran
England and Manchester, and that's one of those things. He's
probably best from Trafford it was. Yeah, that was a
remarkable moment and one that still gets talked about. What

(00:41):
twenty five years later, played with a broken arm for
a period in the NPC Final one year for Wellington
and then had his well publicized battle with alcoholism. Then
turned his life around and used that as a force
for good, wrote a very very compelling book I remember
reading That's around It, and became an advocate for the

(01:01):
Alcohol and Drug Help Line, and then had this twist
to you know, do Dancing with the Stars and you
think about what twenty years ago, Yeah, a rugby player,
much of a rugby player like Home, you were going
to do that, not only doing it, but winning it. Crushing, rushing, absolutely, killing, absolutely,
you know, a remarkable character and so multifaceted, and you're

(01:21):
really really sad news to hear that past.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I think I think about how he used his public
profile to talk about alcohol harm in the way that
I think was really brave for that time as well,
You're really brave, and you know he'd had that all
the bad headlines and stuff and he turned that around.
I just I thought he was a really remarkable individual
for doing that at a time when that sort of
response wasn't necessarily guaranteed. Toyo Harris, Yeah, it was the

(01:43):
remainder of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Not good news for the worrying is a wrist injury
that he's been battling all season long, and they've tried
to sort of keep him going on. He's come off
the bench a couple of times and he's had a
we break from things, but they've decided now that that's
him done for the season, so needs to have it
properly sorted out and me back to next year. Not
what the team needs. They're currently in that battle for
the top eight and there down in eleventh at the moment,

(02:07):
chasing a playoffs. What they've got the Raiders this week,
which looms is a bit of a four point game.
They win that, maybe they're back in the reckoning. They
lose it, you'd probably say it's going to be really
hard to reel some of those teams back in. But
the kind of leader that is very talismanic for the Warriors,
you lose him. Shaw, Johnson's already not there, a couple
of other experienced players, you know, the season that had
promised so much at the start of the season, given

(02:30):
what they did last year within a win of the final.
It's all sort of crumbling at the moment for the Warriors.
And look, hopefully they can do it without them, but yeah,
big loss for them.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I want a number before you go of the starting
fifteen from last weekend. How many do you think it'll
be starting in Gadieger this week?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Let's say six I've plucked out of nowhere, especially how
right I am on Thursday when its name, but expecting
a few changes for the for the All Blacks, chatting
with Leo McDonald earlyer Patrick twep a lot too has
stayed at home because he's him meant to be back
by now and he's gone and play three Titanic games
for the Blues and the All Blacks. So they're going
to reach a few players, get some new ones in

(03:06):
there and better change for Fiji.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Very good. Thanks. So that is Alie Smith. He's on
Sports Talk this evening from seven o'clock for

Speaker 2 (03:13):
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