Zac Guildford

Zachary Robert Guildford (born 8 February 1989) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player who played as a wing most notably for National Provincial Championship club Hawke's Bay and the New Zealand national team.

Guildford was born in Greytown, New Zealand to Deborah and Robert Guildford.

His father and uncle Daren both played for Wairarapa Bush in the early 1990s.

He has one younger brother, Victor.

When Guildford was 10 years old, his family moved to Napier, Hawke's Bay, where he went through the rugby academy system.

He attended Napier Boys' High School.

Guildford was selected for a New Zealand under-17 rugby camp in 2005.

Guildford was selected for New Zealand Schoolboys in 2006, scoring three tries across the side's three games.

Following these appearances, he signed a three-year contract with Hawke's Bay at the end of 2006, and intended to start studying sport and recreation & business management at the Eastern Institute of Technology the following year.

Selected out of the Taradale Rugby Club, Guildford made his debut for Hawke's Bay in 2007 aged 18, making him one of the youngest players to play in the Air New Zealand Cup.

In his debut season for Hawke's Bay, he played 14 games and scored eight tries, two of them being scored in a 30-26 win over Waikato.

After a strong season with Hawke's Bay in the previous year, Guildford was selected for the Hurricanes 2008 season at age 18, making him New Zealand's youngest Super Rugby player at the time.

Guildford later debuted for the Hurricanes at the age of 19 years and 70 days, making him the youngest on debut for the franchise also, beating the previous record held by Christian Cullen by almost a year.

Despite breaking his arm in pre-season, Guildford played six matches in the 2008 Super 14 season, starting all the matches except one, and scoring three tries.

Guildford missed the beginning of the 2011 Super Rugby season after straining his hamstring in a 40-21 win against the Highlanders.

Due to the four-match ban given to him by New Zealand Rugby, Guildford missed the Crusaders' three pre-season matches and their first competition match against the Blues in the 2012 Super Rugby season.

With fellow wings Ben Smith, Julian Savea, Charles Piutau, Cory Jane, and Frank Halai being preferred by the All Blacks, Guildford sought an overseas contract.

In January 2014, it was announced that Guildford signed a contract for two years (with the option of a third) with French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne.

Guildford did not play any Super Rugby matches in 2014, instead playing club rugby in Christchurch and Napier, but did play a game for the Crusaders Development side during the pre-season.

He was meant to join Clermont at the conclusion of the 2014 Super Rugby season, but in May 2014, he was released early from his contract by the due to his poor fitness.

Guildford was set to miss up to four weeks of rugby for Clermont after an assault on him left him with a badly bruised jaw.

In early May 2015, Guildford announced that he had ended his contract with Clermont Auvergne, citing the distance from New Zealand and the different style of northern hemisphere rugby as reasons for his return to New Zealand.

However, it was later revealed that it was actually Clermont who terminated Guildford's contract after he tested positive for cocaine.

Guildford played in four pre-season games for Hawke's Bay in 2015, but was banned for four matches spear tackling Cardiff Vaega in Hawke's Bay's match against Counties Manukau.

Shortly after his return to New Zealand, Waratahs assistant coach Daryl Gibson, who Guildford played under during their time at the Crusaders, contacted Guildford with an offer of joining the Waratahs for the 2016 Super Rugby season.

Guildford accepted the offer in August, but a week later stated that he may not move to the Waratahs in order to stay closer to his family and friends, and instead play Super Rugby for a New Zealand-based team, with coach Tana Umaga showing interest in signing him for the Blues.

Despite the speculation, the Waratahs announced that they had signed Guildford on a ten-month contract in September and was due to move to Sydney at the end of October.

Guildford had a strong first game with the Waratahs, defeating the Queensland Reds 30-10.

Guildford broke his toe during the Waratahs' game against the Rebels, ruling him out of the Waratahs' next game against the Brumbies.

Guildford was dropped mid-season from the Waratahs squad, forcing him to play in the Shute Shield for West Harbour RFC, but later earned a recall into the team.

In June, Guildford left the Waratahs for "wellbeing reasons".

Tasman announced in May that they had signed Guildford for the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season to replace injured wings Viliami Lolohea and James Lowe.

However, in August and before the start of the season, he and Tasman agreed to "part ways".

Days after his contract with Tasman was cancelled, Guildford signed with Heartland Championship team Wairarapa Bush, who made it as far as the semi-finals of the 2016 Heartland Championship before losing to eventual champions Whanganui.

Following the Heartland Championship, Guildford played in sevens tournaments in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Through their mutual ties to Hawke's Bay, coach Roger Randle influenced Guildford to move to Waikato at the end of 2016.

In December, Randle named Guildford in Waikato's 12-man sevens squad to compete at the Northern Regional Seven's tournament in Cambridge.

Guildford had an impressive performance for the Waikato sevens team at the national competition, where they finished runners-up behind Counties Manakau.

Following the sevens season over the summer, Guildford played for Hamilton Old Boys Rugby Club in the Waikato premier competition and was selected by Waikato for the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup.

Playing at fullback, he suffered a hamstring injury during Waikato's 23-10 defeat to Manawatu in Hamilton and was replaced by Tyler Campbell.