An off-spin bowler and useful lower-order batsman, Rapley played his first match for Canterbury at the age of 20 in the last round of the Plunket Shield in 1957-58 and took four wickets (match figures of 35–15–60–4).
[1] He was selected in the trial match for South Island a few days later and took two wickets cheaply.
[5] This victory, achieved at the last possible moment of the match, gained Canterbury the Plunket Shield.
[10] Rapley has spent most of his life in the North Canterbury region, where he was born.
He was assistant town clerk for the Rangiora Borough Council in the 1970s,[11] and was one of the first trustees of the North Canterbury Sport & Recreation Trust after it was established in 1982.