Shearer played his rugby at full clip
All Black b January 4, 1944 d May 4, 2020
Tales about Alan Sutherland shearing sheep before rugby games add an extra splash of colour to the story of a man who lived large on and off the field.
When the former All Blacks forward, who has died unexpectedly, aged 76, fired up the handpiece on the morning of a match he didn’t do so with the intention of recording a big tally.
It was more to burn off some nervous energy, as he whittled away the hours before kick-off.
Sutherland didn’t shy away from hard work; his desire to get business done in the woolsheds and farms around Marlborough mirrored his attitude on the rugby field.
When Marlborough held the Ranfurly Shield during its famous 1973-74 reign, Sutherland and his band of brothers made sure the rest of the country knew about the Red Devils at the top of the South Island.
Marlborough had relieved Canterbury of the famed Log o’ Wood in Christchurch in 1973, sparking a memorable 18 months for the union until it lost the trophy to South Canterbury.
Later Sutherland was to remark that the 13-6 victory over Canterbury was one of the most memorable rugby experiences of his career. He said he knew Marlborough were capable of winning the shield when he combined with team-mate Brian Dwyer to shunt Canterbury’s notorious hardman Alex Wyllie, an All Blacks team-mate of Sutherland’s, back on to the seat of his pants as he drove for the tryline during a furious attack.
Sutherland was known as a No 8 but made his test debut as a lock against the Springboks in the second test in Cape Town in 1970.
He had toured Australia with the All Blacks in 1968 but had to be content with making eight mid-week appearances with Brian Lochore leading the side from No 8.
Lochore was still in charge and an automatic selection when the All Blacks toured the republic two years later, but when the tourists lost the first test in Pretoria, coach Ivan Vodanovich decided to slot Sutherland, who was in excellent form, into the second row because Colin Meads had broken his arm in an earlier match.
The All Blacks had to win to keep the series alive. In an interview with a South African publication in 2010, Sutherland described the attitude among his teammates as they presented themselves for the match at Newlands.
‘‘Whether fair or by foul, we had to restore our reputation and we ran on to the field almost blinded with drummedup courage,’’ he recalled.
‘‘This must have been one of the toughest rugby test matches ever played. Bones cracked and blood splattered everywhere during the course of it.’’
Sutherland received a kick in the face and when it came to his turn to have the wound stitched after the game, the doctor told him there was no more anaesthetic and to be prepared for a painful experience.
‘‘I should never have agreed because it felt like someone drove a nail into my face with a hammer,’’ Sutherland said.
The All Blacks won 9-8, but Sutherland wasn’t required for the third test because Meads was declared fit. The visitors lost.
The Marlborough man was back for the fourth test, alongside Meads in the second row, but another defeat followed and the Springboks won the series.
Sutherland’s return to the republic with the 1976 All Blacks tour party was to have serious ramifications for his wife and three young children back in New Zealand.
Sutherland met Miss South Africa, Vera Johns, while on tour.
Although he returned home for a short period, he declared he wanted to start a fresh life for himself and Johns in southern Africa.
They later married and had a daughter.
After a season working as a player/ coach in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Sutherland accepted a similar role at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Four years later he purchased a horse stud farm in the Natal midlands and concentrated on breeding racehorses, and experienced more than his share of success in the industry, before selling the majority of the farm in 2012 and downscaling.
Alan Richard Sutherland was born in Blenheim, and raised alongside his five siblings by parents Carl and Elisa on their 120-hectare sheep and crop farm in the Lower Wairau Valley.
Older brother Ramon, a highly respected lock who captained Marlborough and played alongside Alan, recalled the boys kicking a ball around near the house on the family farm and practising their moves with each other.
Rugby wasn’t the only sport that interested the Sutherlands. Carl had been an excellent rower in his own right, and another son, Ivan, was a member of the New Zealand eight rowing crew that won bronze at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
Alan also rowed but it was clear rugby was what appealed most. He attended Marlborough Boys’ College and in his teens left home to earn a living as a shearer in the Awatere district. In the winter he worked as a fencer.
‘‘He had a very good work ethic, just a real hard worker who gave everything 100 per cent,’’ Ramon told The Press. ‘‘He was a top shearer and went on to have his own gang.’’
At 18, Alan attracted the attention of the Marlborough selectors. He still had to fill out his frame, but in his prime he was listed at 108kg and stood 1.91m and could use that to devastating effect when running the ball off the back of the scrum.
Surprisingly quick for a big man, he adapted easily to sevens and enjoyed using his speed in the abbreviated game.
His pace, strength and determination led to him scoring 102 tries in New Zealand first-class rugby.
‘‘He always had the energy, commitment and good ball skills,’’ Ramon noted. ‘‘He was hard, physically hard . . . he was a typical New Zealand country fellow.’’
Brian Dwyer, who played alongside the Sutherlands for Marlborough, said Alan rarely, if ever, walked off a rugby field with a question mark over his efforts.
‘‘He was very determined, very hardheaded and competitive.’’
Alan wasn’t keen to let anyone get the better of him; he and Ramon enjoyed tangling with each other when they played in opposing sides in the local club rugby competition. ‘‘He was pretty short on the fuse,’’ Ramon said with a laugh.
Sutherland, who made 109 appearances for Marlborough between 1962 and 1976, will be remembered as one of its most famous sons.
He played 10 tests for the All Blacks, and 54 games, between 1968 and 1976.
If he had not fallen out with coach JJ Stewart – he wasn’t picked for the All Blacks in 1974 and 1975 – there may have been more caps.
During a visit to New Zealand for the reunion of the Marlborough Rugby Union’s 125th anniversary in 2013, Sutherland told Marlborough Express sports editor Peter Jones that at times he contemplated returning to his homeland, but the lifestyle in South Africa appealed too much.
He clearly cherished the famous shield era with his fellow Red Devils.
‘‘It was amazing that we all got on so well and created a great humour amongst our whole side,’’ Sutherland told Jones.
‘‘We just had an affinity to each other and that’s why it worked . . . Everyone tried so hard for each other.
‘‘None of the teams I played in had the team spirit we generated.’’
Sutherland died in hospital in South Africa while recovering from cancer surgery.