Back our future stars: Guildford

Zac Guildford with the Napier Boys High School under-15 15 team on Saturday. Guildford's rugby career has been "full-on" since 2002, when he was first in the team, aged just 13. Photo / Doug Laing

Rugby star Zac Guildford believes schools must do more to support students as they choose sport as a professional career.

The call came on Saturday when he touched base with the tournament-bound Napier Boys High School under-15 team - effectively where full-time rugby started in 2002 for the now 26-year-old Guildford, as a 13-year-old in the third form (Year 9).

By year's end, as coach Jeff Franklin used a controversial and innovative approach, the team had had over 100 training sessions and played almost 30 matches, including three school holiday warm-up matches in Auckland, and the first of the school's three consecutive national Under 15 rugby titles.

"It's been full-on ever since," Guildford said, after talking to the current crop, and recalling how he was also introduced early to some of the harsh realities. He missed selection for the national tournament that first year, and said: "I was very disappointed."

He shrugged off the setback, was in the team as it won in Napier in 2003, and in 2004 in Hamilton, was captain, scoring two tries as NBHS beat Gisborne BHS 51-0 in the final.

After two more years in the 1st XV, he went straight into the Hawke's Bay Magpies after turning 18 in 2007, played Super Rugby for the Hurricanes the following season, and for the All Blacks in 2009.

"These boys aren't that far away," he said. "Three or four years and some of them could be professional sportsmen."

But it takes support from other quarters, and the team still needs financial support for the August 31-September 4 tournament in Dunedin, where Hawke's Bay will also be represented by Hastings BHS.

Guildford said schools must do more to recognise professional sport as a career option, alongside accountancy, law and other traditional pathways.

"Sports academies," he said. "That's the way to go. There are so many jobs becoming available in professional sports now."

His under-15 teams didn't have the biggest stars, he says, but won by having "the biggest heart".

An unusually large numbers of stars did emerge from those schooldays, headed by Guildford, who has now played over 180 first-class games. Among others were Super Rugby players Daniel Kirkpatrick and Richard Buckman and fellow Hawke's Bay Magpies Trent Boswell-Wakefield and Isaac Paewai.