A Mighty Kauri Falls

Sir Brian’s All Black Heroics

As a whippersnapper, Sir Brian Lochore was handy with a tennis racquet. The youngster won the Wairarapa junior title not once but four times on the trot – leading some to believe they had a future star in their midst.

They did. Just not a tennis star. By the time Brian left school he had fallen in love with rugby, and when he died on August 3 he was celebrated as one of the greatest players ever to pull on the black jersey.

The 78-year-old, who battled bowel cancer in the last months of his life, was a legend of the game. Towering at 1.91m and with “dinner plate-sized hands”, the sheep farmer had a giant presence, but he was also a gentleman: mild-mannered, caring and inspiring.