Cortez Ratima: the Piopio farm boy named after a shoe who became All Black 1214

Cortez Ratima grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Piopio, was more interested in motocross than rugby as a boy, and is named after a running shoe. At 13 he chose rugby. Since then he has won an NPC title with Waikato, played four Super Rugby finals for the Chiefs, and become All Black number 1214, with 25 Tests behind him and a place on the bench for Scotland at Murrayfield this weekend.

A King Country childhood

Cortez-Lee Peter Ratima was born on 22 March 2001 and raised in Piopio, a small King Country town near the Waitomo Caves, on a sheep and beef farm. "Tez" to his family, he gets asked whether the name is Mexican or Spanish. It is not. The Nike Cortez was his father's favourite shoe. "I'm from a Māori background so it's purely the shoe," he told the Waikato Herald in 2024.

As a boy he was mad about motocross, and rugby was his second sport, though he had ball skills before he started school. When he was 13 his father, a rugby coach, suggested he pick one of the two, and he picked rugby. His speed, which his father sums up as "He's got gas," was built in his teens with an athletics coach. Growing up a Chiefs supporter, his rugby hero was the Waikato and Chiefs halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow, and he also kept an eye on TJ Perenara.

School: Piopio to Hamilton

After schooling in Piopio, and time in Taranaki, including a short spell at New Plymouth Boys' High School, and in Australia, he finished at Hamilton Boys' High School, for the challenge and exposure of a bigger school. He played in the First XV there, where Nigel Hotham, the father of his future All Blacks rival Noah Hotham, taught him about work ethic.

He represented Waikato at every age grade, played for the Chiefs Under 18s and New Zealand Māori Under 18s, and joined the Waikato Rugby Academy at 17. He also played for the New Zealand Secondary Schools sevens team, and later for New Zealand Under 20 and New Zealand Māori Under 20.

Ōtorohanga and Waikato

After school he meant to play club rugby for Marist in Hamilton. Then his father took a coaching job at the Ōtorohanga club, and Ratima rang him to ask whether he could play for him. Ōtorohanga is still his club. Its president, Merv Carr, remembers how his passing practice spread through the squad, and when Ratima became an All Black he said it was "the talk of the town".

He made his Waikato debut in 2020, picked by Andrew Strawbridge, the former All Blacks skills coach who also helped him with his pass. In 2021 he scored tries against Wellington in Hamilton and against Tasman in Nelson, and on 20 November 2021 he started at halfback in the Premiership final against Tasman at Waikato Stadium. Waikato won 23-20 to take the title. Wikipedia credits him with 40 games and 45 points for Waikato.

The Chiefs

The Chiefs named him in their squad for 2022, and he made his Super Rugby debut against the Crusaders that season as Chief number 350. Later in 2022 he toured Ireland and England with the All Blacks XV, his first trip away with a New Zealand side. He roomed with Perenara, and has said that being around Perenara and Cam Roigard gave him a taste of the high-performance environment.

At the Chiefs he learned from Brad Weber, who was generous with his knowledge. He came off the bench in the 2023 final, lost 25-20 to the Crusaders, and spent the end of that year on an exercise bike after a high-ankle sprain kept him off his feet for eight weeks. With Weber and Aaron Smith both gone overseas, there was more room for young halfbacks in 2024, though the Chiefs also signed the former All Black Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi. Te Awamutu News reported that Ratima excelled for the Chiefs that season, and he started the 2024 final at Eden Park, lost 41-10 to the Blues.

All Black number 1214

In June 2024 Scott Robertson named him in his first All Blacks squad. Smith had left for Japan and Roigard was injured. On 13 July he came off the bench against England at Eden Park, a 24-17 win. "Debuting at Eden Park was surreal, being able to have my family there," he said. A week later he made his first start, against Fiji in San Diego, and scored in a 47-5 win.

He played 11 Tests in his first season, five of them as a starter: Fiji, South Africa in Cape Town, Australia in Sydney, England at Twickenham and Ireland in Dublin, four of them wins. The Herald noted then that at 87 kilograms he could bench press 170, and that he saw himself as one of the lighter halfbacks around. He also said that becoming a father, the year before, had forced him to mature quickly. He was clear about the next step. "The goal moves from being an All Black to a great All Black," he said.

A rib fracture and a new deal

In 2025 he played 10 Tests. He came off the bench in the first two Tests against France and started the third in Hamilton, a 29-19 win. In Cordoba on 16 August he started and scored in a 41-24 win over Argentina, and he started again in Buenos Aires a week later, where he fractured a rib in a 29-23 loss. It kept him out of both Tests against South Africa. "I hope I've been making people back home proud," he told King Country News while he recovered. He was back off the bench for both Bledisloe Cup Tests, came off the bench in Chicago and at Twickenham on the northern tour, and started the last Test of the year, a 52-26 win over Wales in Cardiff.

For the Chiefs he started the 2025 final in Christchurch, lost 16-12 to the Crusaders. On 1 March 2026, shortly after the birth of his second child, he re-signed with New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs until the end of 2028. "There's no place I'd rather be," he said, and his coach Jono Gibbes said it showed his faith in where the club was heading.

2026

He started his third straight Super Rugby final in June 2026, against the Hurricanes in Wellington. The Chiefs lost 60-5, though King Country News singled him out as one of the few bright spots for the beaten side. Dave Rennie kept him in his first All Blacks squad as the most experienced of the three halfbacks, with 21 Tests at the time. He came off the bench against France in Christchurch, Italy in Wellington and Ireland at Eden Park, all wins.

On the tour of South Africa he hurt a knee in the 50-19 win over the Bulls in Pretoria, and Noah Hotham was called up as cover. Ratima did not play in any of the four Tests against the Springboks. He returned off the bench for the 43-21 Bledisloe Cup win in Sydney on 17 October, and Rennie has named him as the reserve halfback, No 21, for Scotland at Murrayfield on 7 November.

Style and standing

The NZ Rugby Museum describes him as a halfback known for sharp decisions and quick service from the ruck. The Herald has listed his strengths as instinct, anticipation, fitness, support running and a nose for the try line, and he has said that his job at the Chiefs has been more about distribution, while the All Blacks give their halfbacks more licence to snipe. He has named his left-footed kicking as something he is still working on.

Of his 25 Tests, nine have been starts, all at No 9, and 16 have come off the bench. He has scored two Test tries.

Where he is now

Ratima, 25, is in the All Blacks squad on the northern tour and is contracted to New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs until the end of 2028. He has played 74 games for the Chiefs and is in their squad for 2027.

Career at a glance

Test figures are from RUGBE's match-by-match All Blacks data to 17 October 2026. The Chiefs games figure is from the Chiefs' 2027 squad release; Waikato and Chiefs points and the All Blacks XV figure are from Wikipedia, updated October 2026.