Born: June 11, 1955
Test record: 11 Tests (1978-81, 1983-84) - 1 try (3 points)
Tours: 1978 tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea, 1980 tour of Britain and France, 1982 tour of Australia
Combative Richmond halfback Shane Varley played 11 Tests for New Zealand from 1978-84, featuring in some memorable victories at the tail-end of his international career.
Varley debuted for Auckland in 1975 and earned his first Kiwis call-up for the 1978 tour of Australia and Papua New Guinea. He played in 11 of the 18 matches, making a tryscoring debut halfback in a win over Riverina.
The diminutive 23-year-old was a shock wing selection for the second match against Australia - his only Test appearance on tour. He finished the trip with five tries.
With veteran Ken Stirling's Test career coming to an end in 1978, Varley lined up in the No.7 in the 18-11 third Test victory over Great Britain at Carlaw Park in 1979, as well as the 1980 series opener against Australia at the same ground. But he was dropped for the second Test and stuck behind West Coast's Gordon Smith in the Test pecking order on the 1980 tour of Britain and France, featuring in seven minor matches.
Varley regained the halfback spot for the 1981 series against France - scoring a try in a 26-3 win in the first Test - but Smith grabbed the No.7 jersey for the Tests on the 1982 tour of Australia, where Varley played five minor games.
After coming off the bench in the 16-4 loss to Australia in the 1983 series opener in Auckland, Varley enjoyed arguably his finest hour as halfback (with Smith at five-eighth) in the Kiwis' stunning 19-12 upset at Lang Park in the second Test. Varley was five-eighth with tyro Clayton Friend halfback in the subsequent 60-20 defeat of Papua New Guinea.
Varley signed off from the Test arena in style in 1984, starting at halfback in all three Tests of the 3-0 whitewash of Great Britain with the burgeoning Friend on the bench. Earlier that year, he came off the bench for a Graham Lowe-coached Oceania combination in their 54-4 thrashing of Europe in Paris (Australian stars Steve Mortimer and Wally Lewis were the starting halves).
A linchpin of Richmond's back-to-back Fox Memorial grand final wins in 1979-80, Varley had stints in England with Workington and Leigh.