Competitive does not do justice to Justin Marshall. He carries that gene which drove Zinzan Brooke and Sean Fitzpatrick and then some. He has a fire in his belly which flickers when the embers are doused in gallons of water.
He will argue and scrap until the end and thena bit more, a trait which got him into strife as a teenager in Mataura. Eventually he learned, just, how to channel that rage through rugby.
There were glitches, some of them very public like Carisbrook 1997 when Marshall was subbed with the last quarter of the test to run. He packed a sad, cursing 'this is fucking bullshit' within clear view and earshot of television cameras before he clattered his way noisily to the changing room. Eventually the rift was cleared with coach John Hart but the nation's outrage meant Marshall appeared on Holmes to apologise.
Marshall played 81 tests in a career where he was usually a certain pick until Graham Henry and Co decided his influence was too divisive towards the end of 2005.
When Marshall was missing or hurt in contests like the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, the All Blacks came second. He was a leader, someone who challenged pressure and was very opinionated. As his wife says, "he's an exclamation mark not a comma."
Marshall was at his full noise in the tumultuous offshore series win against the Springboks in '96 and was chosen as interim skipper to replace Fitzpatrick the following year. That was not quite a success but like everything he did for the All Blacks, Marshall did it at fullbore and with all his emotion.
His lengthy provincial, Super and test partnership with Andrew Mehrtens was a strong part of those sides' success.
Statistics Date of birth: 5 August 1973 Position: Halfback Test debut: 18 November 1995 v France at Paris Final test: 9 July 2005 v British & Irish Lions at Auckland Matches: 88 Tests: 81 Province: Canterbury Franchise: Crusaders Test tries: 24 Test points: 120
