All Blacks: Kirwan has some tips for new boy

CARDIFF - John Kirwan's sage advice will be ringing in Zac Guildford's ears as he tries to control the emotion of an All Blacks test rugby debut on Sunday.

The pair's names were linked from day one of 20-year-old Guildford's selection in the tour squad, when coach Graham Henry compared him to a young Kirwan for his hunger for tries.

So it was only fitting that one of the best All Blacks wingers approached Guildford for a chat last week in Tokyo, where he coaches Japan and had earlier spied the youngster starring for the New Zealand under-20 team in June.

"He should just enjoy the moment and not worry too much about how he's going to play," said Kirwan. "Being as young as he is, he can have a little bit of grace. Just go out there and play the game and learn your trade and enjoy it. He's got a big future, he's certainly very talented."

Guildford recalled the conversation fondly yesterday as microphones and cameras circled after he replaced the suspended Sitiveni Sivivatu on the left wing to face Wales at Millennium Stadium.

He was not even born when Kirwan raced the length of Auckland's Eden Park to score against Italy in the 1987 World Cup, but had seen a highlights package of his try-scoring deeds.

Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson and Tana Umaga were more the heroes of the young Guildford, who first laced up the boots for Greytown in Wairarapa aged 5.

"He [Kirwan] just said in his first couple of years he didn't play his best rugby in the black jersey but that might have been because he was overawed.

"He said just play your natural game, that was the one piece of advice I took from him."

To date, that natural game has involved tries, and plenty of them. He scored 13 for Hawkes Bay in the Air NZ Cup, statistics that demanded a European tour call-up.

And he was not satisfied with just making the squad. One of the first players to pen a tour diary in the past fortnight, one Guildford line stood out.

"I don't want to be just an All Black, I want to be a great All Black."

Yesterday was phase one, and involved how best to deal with being the centre of attention. New Zealand and British media all wanted a piece of him and he admitted running on to Millennium Stadium might well be the easy part. "All this sort of stuff, I'm not really used to. There's probably 20 cameras here and you don't get that in Hawkes Bay."

He handled it expertly, as the story of his remarkable year of epic highs and shattering lows was retold. While he was starring for the New Zealand under-20s in Tokyo, his father Rob died of a heart attack in the stands aged just 44.

It left Guildford to become the man of the house, supporting his mum Deb and younger brother Victor. It also spurred him to chase an All Blacks jersey, as he had discussed so often with his father and biggest supporter.

"For the first month or two I was a bit down in the dumps and I didn't really know what to do," he said.

"After that I screwed my head back on and thought it was time to make the old man proud and try and go for the goal of making the black jersey. I didn't think it would happen this soon."

Then came the big day, when his name was read out. It all became a blur, his phone and Facebook page both went ballistic and he had to escape a hastily arranged family party just to lie down alone and take it all in.

Then the real highlight came, with team outfitting and the sponsor's products. Full wardrobe. Watch. Sunglasses. And his choice of new phone (he opted for the expensive Blackberry but it took him weeks to nut out how to use it).

"It was actually better than Christmas. I opened my suitcase and it was jam-packed with adidas stuff. It was a bit of a shock to the system.

"I left it in Auckland when I went back to Hawkes Bay for two days so it couldn't get stolen by my mates. I'm sure it'll get raided when I get home."

And the phone? "I'm slowly getting there. It's a pretty tricky phone, it's like a wee laptop, but it's pretty good."

The tour so far has been hectic, a step-up in intensity at training and daily life. He was summoned to the reserves bench in Tokyo against Australia last weekend but wasn't required.

Coach Steve Hansen also spoke of him training "like he'd been there forever".

His roommates have been all the senior pros; Mils Muliaina, Dan Carter and now Brad Thorn - "all good fellas, easy to talk to".

Now all there is left is to rest up for the test, where he will mark his age-group rival Leigh Halfpenny.

He is confident of matching the Welsh speedster, now it is just a matter of calming down.

"I'm still in a bit of shock. Happy can't really describe it. I can't find a word, I'm just really excited about the game."

- NZPA