Propping up team for 24 yrs
Big Buller prop Phil Beveridge is having a blast still playing Heartland Championship rugby.
The explosives manager is one of several stalwarts in the Buller pack that will face favourites Wanganui in the Meads Cup final on Saturday.
Beveridge is hoping for the perfect birthday present, as two days after the final he will turn 43.
The veteran first pulled on the cardinal and blue hooped jersey in 1993 as a fresh faced 18-year-old.
Since then he has amassed 165 caps, despite having almost a decade away from rugby.
The tough front rower is happy playing either side of the scrum and will pack down at hooker if he has to.
Beveridge said the Heartland Championship has taken the game up a gear, but in some ways that has also saved him.
‘‘It was completely different back in 1993, it was really 80 minutes of thuggery, with plenty of hard men.
‘‘These days it is structures and systems and you learn where to go.’’
A far as try tries go the colourful character reckons he could be in double figures, but he couldn’t guarantee it.
‘‘Ten or 11 maybe, I definitely have got somewhere around there.’’
Beveridge puts Buller’s success down largely to the efforts of coaches Craig Scanlon and Craig Neill, and the positive culture they have built around the team.
’’I think it is just the way they select the team, they pick players who fit rather than who they are. It’s a knack that has worked.’’
Coaching the country’s smallest union is not an easy task as it only has four senior clubs sides, and sometimes they struggle for numbers.
Beveridge said most of is highlights have come over the past five or six years.
‘‘We’ve been reasonably competitive, I fact teams are not wanting to play us which says how far we have come.’’
Beveridge said the introduction of the New Zealand Heartland team was also a big bonus, although he had never made it.
‘‘It is great when one of the guys you play with get to wear the back jersey.’’
The burly front rower rugby story has taken some turns since he made his debut as a teenager.
He took a break from rugby in 2000, as he had a niggling neck injury and was keen to spend more time with his young daughter Georgia
‘‘I started watching club and then rep rugby again and thought I could do that, they don’t need a loan player.’’
Beveridge said his wife Jill just raises her eyebrows and shrugs when he says he is playing another season.
‘‘I’m not sure how many I’ve got left.’’
Beveridge’s longevity is shown by the fact he had been playing for Buller for four years before the youngest member of their squad, lock Ciaran Neilsen, was born.
Scanlon said Beveridge was the perfect team man.
‘‘He displays all the values you want from a senior player. Everyone looks up to him.’’
‘‘Phil helps the young guys but also instils what it means to wear the jersey, and the traditions that go with Buller rugby.’’
The big prop also has a softer side. Scanlon said he was also developing as a practical joker.
‘‘If anything goes missing Phil gets fingered.’’
Scanlon said Beveridge started the semifinal against South Canterbury on merit.
‘‘Phil was very good for 60 minutes on Saturday. His work around the fringes was great and he put in a lot of tackles.’’
Beveridge is not all huff and puff, however, his day job is as an explosives manager for Orica Mining.
‘‘We make it, sell it and use it. I even get to press the button occasionally.’’
It will be Beveridge’s second Meads Cup contest after Buller went unbeaten in 2014 up to the final, but then lost to Mid Canterbury.
The 2016 Buller side will not lack experience with more than 550 caps in the pack including two other centurions. Luke Brownlee holds the province’s record with 184 while Logan Mundy has 106 caps. ●➤ More rugby B7