Horowhenua-Kāpiti captain Ryan Shelford will join an elite group of players when he leads the team onto the field for his 100th first-class match for his province tomorrow.
The 35-year-old will become just the eighth player in the 129-year history of the Horowhenua-Kāpiti Rugby Union (HKRU) to achieve the feat.
Shelford will join Paul Hirini (159), Robbie Puklowski (138), Don Laursen (127), Barry McLennan (105), Keith Milligan (103*), Warren Robinson (102) and Phil Manu (102) as an HKRU centurion.
While the milestone wouldn't be brought up in front of a home crowd - tomorrow's match is against East Coast at Whakarua Park - Shelford said he enjoyed any chance to play at Ruatoria as it is where his late grandfather hailed from.
Horowhenua-Kapiti captain Ryan Shelford. Photo / NZME
Shelford made his Horowhenua-Kāpiti debut in August 22, 2009, against Wairarapa Bush in Masterton. He played blindside flanker that season, scoring his first try a week later against Buller at Levin Domain.
Since then he has been a mainstay of the Horowhenua-Kāpiti forward pack at lock for more than a decade, captaining the team since 2016 - albeit missing the entire 2019 season with a back injury.
HKRU chief executive Corey Kennett said reaching 100 first class games was a "hell of an achievement" and Shelford had made a remarkable contribution to his province.
Ryan Shelford (front left) will again captain Horowhenua-Kapiti. Photo / NZME
"It's huge. And when you consider he has captained the team in many of those games, they are very deep minutes. There are very few times he would have left the field," Kennett said.
"When you think that in 129 years only eight players have managed to achieve this, it's pretty amazing."
Shelford himself was humbled by the attention and said he simply played for the love of the game and the people he played with.
Horowhenua Kapiti Heartland team captain Ryan Shelford accepting the Bruce Field Cup in 2014. Photo / NZME
"The amount of games is irrelevant. It's the people that keep you coming back and the privilege of playing for Horowhenua-Kāpiti," he said.
"I've been fortunate to have the coaches that I have had through the years, to have played with the players I have played with, and to have had a group of friends growing up that were extremely competitive in whatever they did."
Shelford came through the grades with players in the Kāpiti Coast that loved rugby and challenged each other to get better, an era that included the likes of Warwick Lahmert, Dane Coles, Corey Newstubb, Adam Thompson and Gary Phelps, among others.
Ryan Shelford clears the ball from the lineout in the Ranfurly Shield match against Waikato in 2013. Photo / Christine Cornege, NZ Herald
He first started playing junior rugby as a winger for the Beachlands club in Auckland, until a move south to the Kāpiti Coast as a youngster saw him join the Waikanae club initially.
But in the absence of an Under 13 grade Waikanae team one season, he ended up playing for the neighbouring Paraparaumu club, which he's played for since - apart from brief stints as a teenager in Nelson for Riwaka, and also a season in the UK for Boston RFC.
Shelford brought up 175 games for his beloved Paraparaumu club side this season, and has won six senior Ramsbotham Cup club rugby titles with the club.
Paraparaumu captain Ryan Shelford with the Ramsbotham Cup in 2013. Photo / www.5kidsphotography.co.nz
There were many "awesome" coaches that influenced his younger days and helped stoke his passion for rugby, but he reserved a special thanks to his mother Alison, who brought him up and enabled him to meet all his commitments, and his wife Rebecca.
Shelford's most memorable match for Horowhenua-Kāpiti was the Meads Cup final at Levin Domain in 2017, while the 2018 Lochore Cup win also ranks highly. He also boasts an international match for the Hurricanes development squad against Japan A in 2019.
Horowhenua-Kāpiti captain Ryan Shelford and coach Chris Wilton with the Lochore Cup. Photo / NZME
While he had toyed with retirement in the past, he had always been coaxed back into the fray.
But this season could "definitely" be his last in the red-white and blue as the whānau expands. The Shelfords are expecting a baby boy in October, a brother for Lilah and Willow.
"You never say never though," he said.
* Keith Milligan is still playing senior club rugby, although his last representative match was in 2012.
