KZN breeder and Kiwi rugby legend Alan Sutherland passed away on Monday at the age of 76 in hospital after a short battle with cancer.
The larger than life character was married to 1975 Miss South Africa Vera Johns. The couple bred plenty of winners from their Somerset Stud.
The recipient of a KZN Breeders Lifetime Achievement Award, Alan bred racehorses like 1995 Durban July winner Teal and champion sprinter Taban, as tough as the game he played in the number eight jersey for New Zealand.
It was a memorable day 25 years ago at Greyville as Somerset Stud produced the July exacta, courtesy of Teal and Barrellen.
Born in Blenheim New Zealand on 4 January 1944, Alan was capped 64 times for New Zealand, touring South Africa twice, in 1970 and 1976.
After falling in love with the country and setting up home here in1976 his first role was as ‘a professional rugby player – probably the first of all time’.
“I started off in Rhodesia as a player-coach for a season and then I went down to Witwatersrand University as player-coach of the whole university I suppose. Nowadays I would be called director of rugby. I was there for four years and then I decided to go farming.”
Sutherland bought Somerset Stud in the Natal midlands in the 1980’s and spent over three decades breeding racehorses. He sold and scaled down in 2012.
“I bought an existing stud,” he explained, “and would like to think I built it up. The South African breeding industry is a bit of a roller-coaster. One minute you are on top of the world, the next you’re despondent.”
A larger than life personality, he was still playing rugby when he was 36.
“These big Afrikaaner guys were knocking the living hell out of me. Plus the injuries. You name it, I had it,” he is reported to have said.
He once said that South Africa was ‘one of the few places in the world you don’t have to be a millionaire to live like one’.
Sutherland, the only man to play for the All Blacks and Zimbabwe, was involved in three of the most memorable and controversial All Black tours of the past century, the 1970 and 76 South African trips and the 1972-73 tour of Britain.
“In 1970 I was quite a good player, a test player, in 1976 I was ordinary, I got injured,” he recalls.
He was selected for just the second and fourth tests in 1970, a series the All Blacks lost 3-1, their sole win coming in the memorable second test at Cape Town.
“It was probably the most brutal game I ever played in,” said Sutherland who played lock that day.
“I remember a few blows. I’ve still got the scars. Five minutes in I got kicked in the face, where it really hurts, just below my lip. I can’t say what happened but I got a bit angry. I’ve never seen so many people get stitched up after a game in my life.In fact, when I went in they had run out of local anaesthetic. It felt like a guy was putting an eight inch nail through my lip. But it needed to be done.”
The Sporting Post extends condolences to his family and friends.
