Wayne Shelford took an ago- nisingly long time to pull on the All Black jersey. But once he'd reached that exalted status, his dyna- mism made him an instant success, in- evitably led to the captaincy and in two years he's built a record that allows him to be compared with the most successful All Black skippers. Getting there was the hard part for "Buck" Shelford (that nick- name was rather unflatteringly given to him because of his prominent teeth). For a long time he remained in the shadow of Murray Mexted who made the test No 8 spot his own for seven seasons. Shelford broke into the All Blacks for the tour of Argentina in 1985 (that was the consolation tour for the South African trip that was cancelled) but didn't get a test. Mexted was still king. In 1986 because he did tour South Africa, the suspension imposed on all the Cavaliers meant he missed two test opportunities when Mexted was in- jured. Mike Brewer played instead. Then when Shelford was finally called up he cruelly suffered a broken hand and had to withdraw. So his long awaited test debut didn't come until November 1986, at Tou- louse, and he marked it with a try. Top David Kirk scores for New Zealand against Fiji during the 1987 World Cup match at Lancaster Park Credit -Fotopacific Bottom Wayne Shelford escapes from Robert Jones' tackle to pass during the test against Wales at Lancaster Park in 1988 Credit - Fotopacific A week later he suffered a grue- some groin injury as the All Blacks crashed to defeat at Nantes. He recovered to become an essen- tial member of the World Cup win- ning side of 1987 - the French went as far as to claim he was the singular most effective All Black - and hasn't tasted defeat at international level. He was promoted to captain for the end-of-year tour of Japan, where the All Blacks indulged in a tryscoring riot, and has led his country to out- standing victories against Wales, Aus- tralia (home and away), Argentina, France and Ireland since, currently boasting 12 straight test victories as a Captain. Prior to achieving glory with the All Blacks, Shelford, a punishing run- ner with the ball and powerful tackler, had demonstrated his leadership quali- ties with the New Zealand Maoris and the New Zealand Combined Services. He entered representative rugby with Auckland in 1982 and has been a vital member of North Harbour since its "birth" in 1985. Wayne Shelford leads the All Black's haka during their unbeaten tour of Wales and Ireland in 1989.

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