Guildford for Waikato
Zac Guildford is hoping to revive his rugby career in Waikato.
The former All Black is training with Waikato sevens and he will play club rugby for Hamilton Old Boys next year.
Guildford, 27, has been away playing sevens in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, after a stint in the Heartland Championship with Wairarapa Bush.
And now the troubled winger is in Waikato, pushing for selection for their sevens squad coached by Roger Randle.
Randle, who knows Guildford through their respective affiliations with Hawke’s Bay, will name a 12-man squad for the northern regional sevens tournament next week, which takes place at Memorial Park in Cambridge on December 11.
Guildford and Randle have both won gold with New Zealand’s sevens at the Commonwealth Games - the former in 2010 and the latter in 1998 and 2002.
Tasman signed Guildford for this year’s Mitre 10 Cup, but he was omitted from their national provincial championship squad named in August, which came weeks after he left the Waratahs for ‘wellbeing reasons’.
Daryl Gibson, coach of the Australian Super Rugby franchise, admitted in June they ‘probably cared for him on a personal level too much’ after Guildford’s turbulent off-field history.
Now Randle, who is also Waikato’s attack and backs coach for NPC, wants to put a smile back on his face, and playing sevens and club rugby could just be the start.
‘‘He’s joined our sevens programme and we’ll see how he goes. He’s been awesome for us and it’s pretty much just in its infancy,’’ Randle said. ‘‘He’s here to play club sevens and have a crack for the Waikato team to make nationals.’’
New Zealand’s national sevens competition is at Rotorua’s International Stadium on January 14-15 - a week after the Mount Maunganui provincial sevens.
That, for now, is Guildford’s first aim in 2017, before playing in Waikato premier club rugby for Hamilton Old Boys, who are the province’s most successful club.
The expectation will be there for Guildford to excel at club level and potentially play his way into contention for NPC again.
He played in 11 All Blacks tests between 2009 and 2012 and was part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad.
Guildford played for Hawke’s Bay in NPC (2007-2013) , as well as the Hurricanes (2008-2009) and the Crusaders (2010-2014) in Super Rugby, before switching to French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne.
His personal troubles have been well documented since he publicly apologised for his drunken behaviour in Rarotonga in November 2011 - weeks after the All Blacks had won the World Cup at Eden Park.
Randle just wants to take the pressure off and let Guildford play rugby again.
‘‘We’ve kept it pretty quiet. It sounds generic but we really just want him to come and play some club sevens and play for Waikato sevens, if things go well for him,’’ Randle said.