Rugby: Moffat to bring up 200 for Southern

Southern prop Warren Moffat at Bathgate Park earlier this week. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Southern prop Warren Moffat at Bathgate Park earlier this week. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Prop Warren Moffat will join a very exclusive club at Hancock Park tomorrow.

Moffat (35) will play his 200th premier game for Southern against Pirates, joining his former first XV and club team mate Luke Herden as the only players who have reached 200 games for the Magpies.

Moffat, a lawyer, said it was a huge honour for him to get 200 games and was not something he ever thought would happen.

''It will be a special day. I played my 100th, I think in 2009, and someone said about aiming for 200. I said it's not going to happen,'' he said.

''But I've just kept playing, kept turning up. The game has changed, for sure, over the years. The rules have changed, the jerseys have got tighter and the game has got a lot faster.''

Moffat, who first played premier rugby in 1999, went to King's High School and was in the same team and front row as All Blacks Carl Hayman and Tom Willis.

He went and studied law and wore a suit, while Hayman and Willis went on to successful professional rugby careers.

Moffat, though, does not regret not giving the professional game a crack.

''Those guys worked really hard for it and deserve everything they got. I sort of reflect on it and think I never really wanted it enough at the time ... I was more focused on becoming a lawyer.''

Moffat never played for Otago though he came close in 2011.

James McGougan was injured and he was called into the team to play Manawatu.

But snow across the country meant the Manawatu team could not get to Dunedin, so the match was rescheduled until later in the year.

By then players had recovered and Moffat had succumbed to a serious back injury.

He struggled to walk for about six months but it slowly came right and he has continued to play.

Moffat said the highlight was winning the final in 2007 and other games came to mind. But it was always about team victories.

He said the likes of Barry Stevens, Colin Tuaine and Herden had been a huge help to him.

Herden had 208 games for the club and Moffat could go past that if Southern makes the final and he plays in every game.

Whatever happens, Moffat is likely to hang up the boots at the end of the season.

''I would quite happily play again but we have a lot of young guys coming through and you've got to go at some stage ... Sometimes you get sick of it, there is a bit of Tuesdayvitis. But this year has been one of the most enjoyable years I've had.''

Southern is likely to bring up Moffat's 200th game with a win, as it looks to stay inside the top three.

The key match tomorrow is Dunedin hosting Zingari-Richmond.

The visiting side has a chance to get into the top four if it wins and other results go its way.

In other games, Kaikorai hosts Alhambra-Union while University A and Harbour clash at University Oval.

Taieri will mark utility back Shannon Young's 100th game for the club after its match against Green Island at Peter Johnstone Park.

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