Educated at Western Heights High School in Rotorua where he played in the first XV 1973, 74. Wayne ('Buck') Shelford played for Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools and Auckland age grade sides before he made his Auckland debut in 1982.

He stayed with his North Shore club and automatically moved to North Harbour when the separate union on the North Shore was formed in 1985. It was that year in which he was first chosen for New Zealand, for the abandoned tour of South Africa. He went on the replacement tour of Argentina and played in four of the matches.

Shelford joined the unauthorised Cavaliers tour of South Africa in 1986 and, when he was eligible again for the All Blacks, was chosen for the second test against Australia but had to withdraw because of injury. He went on the tour of France at the end of the year, where he played in both tests.

The most dominant No 8 in the country, he was an automatic choice for the World Cup, and played in five of the six matches, and also played in the Sydney test in which the All Blacks regained the Bledisloe Cup. He took over from David Kirk as captain for the tour of Japan in October and November and played in each of the five matches.

Shelford then led the All Blacks on one of their great periods of domination, going through unbeaten from 1987 to 1990, with only a drawn test against Australia in 1988 to mar the perfect record. The Welsh aura was shattered with two hidings in New Zealand in 1988, followed by a tour of Australia, then in 1989 Argentina and France were dispatched, as were Wales and Ireland at the end of 1989.

By the beginning of 1990, however, Shelford's form was not as dominant as it had been and after two tests against Scotland he was dropped, prompting a public outcry. The criticism of the selectors intensified during the following series against Australia, when the All Blacks were beaten in the third test. "Bring Back Buck" signs appeared at grounds and talkback radio callers and writers of letters to editors created a groundswell of opinion, which was ignored by the New Zealand selectors.

'Buck' was not brought back for the tour of France at the end of 1990 and in 1991 he was given consolation roles as captain of a New Zealand XV that played Romania and the Soviet Union, and of a New Zealand B team that played Australia.

Shelford retired at the end of 1991. He later coached successfully in Britain and he maintained a high public profile with television commercials for the Accident Compensation Corporation and public speaking engagements. He was assistant coach at North Harbour in 1997 and late in the year, was appointed coach for 1998.

The Maori word 'mana' may have been coined just for Shelford. A competitive and skilful No 8, he led by example, whether driving over the advantage line from scrums or rucks, defending or standing up against real and imagined slights. His quickness to take the law into his own hands would have been harshly judged in rugby's more recent years, but there was no question that he was one of the great forwards to play for New Zealand.

Brothers Dean and Darral played for Combined Services and Bay of Plenty respectively. An uncle, Gordon McLennan, played for Otago and was an All Black trialist, and another, Jack McLennan, also played for Otago. All Black flanker Frank Shelford was a second cousin.

Profile by Bob Luxford
for the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

FULL NAME

Wayne Thomas Shelford

BORN

Friday, 13 December 1957 in Rotorua

AGE

52

PHYSICAL

1.89m, 93kg

POSITION

Number 8

LAST SCHOOL

Western Heights High

RUGBY CLUB
(First made All Blacks from)

North Shore

PROVINCE

North Harbour

RUGBY NICKNAME

Buck

ALL BLACK DEBUT

Saturday, 12 October 1985
v Club Athletico San Isidro at Buenos Aires
aged 27 years, 303 days

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Saturday, 8 November 1986
v France at Toulouse
aged 28 years, 330 days

LAST TEST

Saturday, 23 June 1990
v Scotland at Auckland
aged 32 years, 192 days

ALL BLACK TESTS

22 (14 as Captain)

ALL BLACK GAMES

26 (17 as Captain)

TOTAL ALL BLACK MATCHES

48 (31 as Captain)

ALL BLACK TEST POINTS

20pts (5t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK GAME POINTS

68pts (17t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

TOTAL ALL BLACK POINTS

88pts (22t, 0c, 0p, 0dg, 0m)

ALL BLACK NUMBER

860

The All Black Games that Shelford played.
(+) = substitute; (-) = replaced

Click on the date to be taken to the Match Card

1985

 12 Oct vs Club Athletico San Isidro at Buenos Aires 22-9  

 15 Oct vs Rosario Selection at Fisherton 28-9 (+) 

 22 Oct vs Cordoba Selection at Cordoba 72-9  

 29 Oct vs Mar del Plata Selection at Mar del Plata 56-6  

1986

 21 Oct vs French Selection at Strasbourg 42-12  

 28 Oct vs French Selection at Toulon 25-6  

 1 Nov vs Rousillon-Languedoc Selection at Perpignan 59-6  

 8 Nov vs France at Toulouse 19-7  

 15 Nov vs France at Nantes 3-16 (-) 

1987

 22 May vs Italy at Auckland 70-6  

 27 May vs Fiji at Christchurch 74-13  

 6 Jun vs Scotland at Christchurch 30-3  

 14 Jun vs Wales at Brisbane 49-6  

 20 Jun vs France at Auckland 29-9  

 25 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 30-16  

 21 Oct vs Japan 'B' at Tokyo 94-0  (Captain)

 25 Oct vs Japan at Osaka 74-0  (Captain)

 28 Oct vs Asian Barbarians at Kyoto 96-3  (Captain)

 1 Nov vs Japan at Tokyo 106-4  (Captain)

 4 Nov vs J.R.U. Presidents XV at Tokyo 38-9  (Captain)

1988

 28 May vs Wales at Christchurch 52-3  (Captain)

 11 Jun vs Wales at Auckland 54-9  (Captain)

 19 Jun vs Western Australia at Perth 60-3  (Captain)

 22 Jun vs Randwick RFC at Sydney 25-9  (Captain)

 26 Jun vs Australia 'B' at Brisbane 28-4  (Captain)

 3 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 32-7  (Captain)

 10 Jul vs Queensland at Brisbane 27-12  (Captain)

 13 Jul vs Queensland B at Townsville 39-3 (+) 

 16 Jul vs Australia at Brisbane 19-19  (Captain)

 23 Jul vs N.S.W. at Sydney 42-6  (Captain)

 26 Jul vs Victorian Invitation XV at Melbourne 84-8 (+) 

 30 Jul vs Australia at Sydney 30-9  (Captain)

1989

 17 Jun vs France at Christchurch 25-17  (Captain)

 1 Jul vs France at Auckland 34-20  (Captain)

 15 Jul vs Argentina at Dunedin 60-9  (Captain)

 29 Jul vs Argentina at Wellington 49-12  (Captain)

 5 Aug vs Australia at Auckland 24-12  (Captain)

 14 Oct vs Cardiff at Cardiff 25-15  (Captain)

 21 Oct vs Swansea at Swansea 37-22  (Captain)

 28 Oct vs Llanelli at Llanelli 11-0  (Captain)

 31 Oct vs Newport at Newport 54-9  (Captain)

 4 Nov vs Wales at Cardiff 34-9  (Captain)

 11 Nov vs Munster at Cork 31-9  (Captain)

 14 Nov vs Connacht at Galway 40-6  (Captain)

 18 Nov vs Ireland at Dublin 23-6  (Captain)

 25 Nov vs Barbarians at London 21-10 (-) (Captain)

1990

 16 Jun vs Scotland at Dunedin 31-16  (Captain)

 23 Jun vs Scotland at Auckland 21-18  (Captain)

Points scored for the All Blacks

t

c

p

dg

pts

vs Cordoba Selection, 22 Oct 1985

2

-

-

-

8

vs Mar del Plata Selection, 29 Oct 1985

1

-

-

-

4

vs French Selection, 28 Oct 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs Rousillon-Languedoc Selection, 1 Nov 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs France, 8 Nov 1986

1

-

-

-

4

vs Wales, 14 Jun 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs Japan, 25 Oct 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs Asian Barbarians, 28 Oct 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs Japan, 1 Nov 1987

2

-

-

-

8

vs J.R.U. Presidents XV, 4 Nov 1987

1

-

-

-

4

vs Wales, 28 May 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs Western Australia, 19 Jun 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs Randwick RFC, 22 Jun 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs Queensland B, 13 Jul 1988

2

-

-

-

8

vs N.S.W., 23 Jul 1988

1

-

-

-

4

vs Ireland, 18 Nov 1989

1

-

-

-

4

Totals

22

0

0

0

88

Test Record by Nation

P

W

D

L

t

c

p

dg

pts

Argentina

2

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Australia

5

4

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

Fiji

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

France

5

4

-

1

1

-

-

-

4

Ireland

1

1

-

-

1

-

-

-

4

Italy

1

1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scotland

3

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wales

4

4

-

-

3

-

-

-

12

Totals

22

20

1

1

5

0

0

0

20