Zac Guildford

Few would have disagreed with the assessment the 2010 Rugby Almanack made of Zac Guildford when it proclaimed him one of its five outstanding players of the 2009 season.

Then aged only 20, Guildford, with his speed, work-rate and energy, was already an All Black. Having been chosen for the 2009 end of year tour he appeared destined to become one of New Zealand rugby’s greatest wings.

His early elevation to All Black rugby had always seemed inevitable after he had been quickly identified as an exceptional prospect during his teenage years. He had a starring role in national secondary school and age group sides, culminating in his being part of the winning New Zealand under 20s at Tokyo in 2009.

Guildford scored two tries in the final against England, but the occasion was marred by the sudden death as he watched the game in the grandstand of his father, Robert, a Wairarapa-Bush representative player himself in the early 1990s. Those traumatic circumstances gave even more prominence for Guildford.

Guildford was aged only 18 when he first played representative rugby for Hawke’s Bay and in 2008-09 he was already playing Super 15 rugby with the Hurricanes and in 2010 he joined New Zealand’s most successful franchise, the Crusaders. That same year he was also in the national sevens side which won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Of his future the 2010 Almanack had no doubts. “He will be a crowd favourite for many years to come,” it said.

Sadly, the expectation Guildford would take his place among All Black rugby’s elite didn’t quite eventuate. Instead Guildford became embroiled in controversy because of a number of drinking episodes, the worst of which occurred in Rarotonga in 2011. Guildford was far from being the first All Black to have had alcohol issues, of course, and may have been unfortunate to have lived in an era where social media did not allow sportsmen, especially professionals, any indiscretions. Not even an organisation as professional and as efficient as the Crusaders could find the remedies and Guildford’s New Zealand career ended when he was released from his contract early in the 2014 Super season to enable him to join the French club, Clermont-Ferrare.

Yet Guildford, without quite reaching his potential, achieved much in New Zealand rugby at provincial, Super and All Black levels. Even though competing against several other class wings, he gained a total of 10 test caps, the last two of which were in the 2012 home tests against Ireland. In an early season home test in 2011 against Wales he scored two tries and in his only appearance in the 2011 World Cup he scored four tries against Canada.

The highlight of his four-season spell with the Crusaders was having a leading role in their remarkable 2011 season when all of the franchise’s matches were away because of the earthquake. Despite that disadvantage they made the final, only to lose narrowly and unluckily to the Reds.

Guildford finished with 79 Super games and had 68 games for Hawke’s Bay, including being in the Magpies side when it won the Ranfurly Shield in 2013