Zac Guildford, the former All Blacks winger who had the rugby world at his feet before seeing it disappear in a blizzard of alcohol and drugs, insists he is a reformed man who could do a job at the highest level in English rugby – if somebody just gives him the chance to prove it.
Guildford, who shot to prominence as a teenage protégé before featuring in New Zealand’s historic 2011 World Cup-winning campaign, fell off the rails in his early-to-mid-twenties and looked finished when he failed a drugs test during a stint at Clermont Auvergne in 2015.
The earlier death of Zac’s father, Robert, from a heart attack during the 2009 Junior World Cup final in Tokyo left an indelible mark and, after winning the last of his ten All Blacks caps against Ireland in 2012, the former Crusader began an inexorable slide into rugby obscurity.
With him reformed and back in control physically and mentally, another of life’s vagaries intervened this year when Covid-19 ruined a proposed ground-breaking move to the Russian Premier League, where he had been due to link up with Bulava and relaunch his career.
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