Zac Guildford will be training for Wairarapa-Bush on Tuesday night. PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
By Don Farmer
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One of the most exciting rugby players to come out of Wairarapa is back home, determined to give everything he’s got to ensure Wairarapa-Bush has a successful season in the Heartland championship.
Zac Guildford, 10-test All Black from 2009 to 2012, will be having his first training run with his new team on Tuesday night with an eye to playing his first game soon after.
The Greytown-born star back arrived at his grandparents Frank and June Burt’s South Featherston home over the weekend from Hawke’s Bay and said yesterday he is looking forward to his new challenge.
Guildford,27, said when he pulls on the Wairarapa-Bush jersey he will be signalling that he intends to “give my all for the team.”
“I will give 100 per cent to every game,” he said.
Guildford said apart from just feeling good to be back to where it all began for him as a JAB star player, he was also feeling pretty fit.
“I’ve been working out in the gym, running steps and running in the paddock but there is still nothing that comes up to match fitness,” he said.
When he dons the red and green for Wairarapa-Bush Guildford will be following in the footsteps of his father Robert and his Uncle Darren and yesterday he revealed that the idea of him playing for the team had been floated some time back by none other than Sir Brian Lochore.
“He told me I should come and play for Wairarapa-Bush.
“I sort of laughed a bit but then I realised it would be a good stepping stone for me.”
Guildford said at 27 he feels he is still in his prime as a player and would not have liked to come to play for Wairarapa -Bush only after he had reached the end of his best years, when in his mid-30s.
He said although he didn’t know a lot of today’s Wairarapa-Bush players personally he was looking forward to getting to know them and to “take the opportunity to be part of a good team.”
Guildford said while his focus is firmly on Wairarapa-Bush he has not given up on putting the pieces back together to restart his rugby career at a higher level.
“Looking back now I took a few things for granted,” he said.
Although an established first-class winger Guildford hinted he may be asked to play at centre, a challenge which would not faze him as he played in that position in his younger days.
Back in Wairarapa he is getting his feet back on the ground, enjoying family and “being around good faces.”
Guildford watched Saturday’s All Black test on television with a good mate and is keen on tucking into his grandmother’s cooking.
“She will be keeping the omelettes up to me.”
