Both were members of the New Zealand U19Â side that won the IRB U19 World Championship in Northern Ireland last year, Guildford starting all five matches and scoring tries against Wales U19, England U19 and Japan U19. Guildford was named the NZRU Age Grade Player of the Year in 2007 and at just 18 became the youngest ever to play for the Hurricanes, beating the previous benchmark for former All Black full back Christian Cullen by almost a year.
His selection means that New Zealand U20 will boast four Super 14 players in their 26-man squad with the Crusaders trio of wings Sean Maitland and Kade Poki; the leading try scorer in last year’s IRB U19 World Championship, and loose forward Nasi Manu. This quartet will link up with the New Zealand U20 squad; who assemble at the Millennium Institute in North Harbour on 26th May 2008 and depart for Wales five days later, after the conclusion of the Super 14 competition. The squad will be captained by Chris Smith, who guided them to U19 glory in Belfast.
New Zealand U20 Squad
(* Member of the 2007 New Zealand U19, ^ 2008 Rebel Sport Super 14 player)
*Ben Afeaki (North Harbour), *Rodney Ah You (Canterbury), *Luke Braid (Bay of Plenty), *Ryan Crotty (Canterbury), *Ash Dixon (Hawke’s Bay), *Paea Fa’anunu (Auckland), ^* Zac Guildford (Hawke’s Bay), Michael Harris (North Harbour), Grayson Hart (Auckland), Joe Hill (Wellington), *Daniel Kirkpatrick (Wellington), Matthew Luamanu (Wellington), *Quentin MacDonald (Tasman), ^*Sean Maitland (Canterbury), ^*Nasi Manu (Canterbury), ^*Kade Poki (Tasman), Hugh Reed (Hawke’s Bay), *Trent Renata (Waikato), *Peter Saili (Auckland), Aaron Smith (Manawatu), *Chris Smith (North Harbour), Toby Smith (Waikato), Andre Taylor (Manawatu), *Josh Townsend (Otago), *Sam Whitelock (Canterbury), *Jackson Willison (Waikato)
