The Country 13/03/26: Andy Dalton talks to Jamie Mackay

Former All Blacks captain and farmer lets us know what he’s been up to in a busy career since his rugby days.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Day one of the Wonica A and P Show, huge event.
I haven't been here for a number of years now.
Last night we had a great fundraisers for Lincoln University
backing sport organized by Andy Ball and chief executive of
the Scales Group, obviously Lincoln alumni, and Donald Howie Morrison,
former director of the Alliance Group. But our keynote speaker

(00:21):
or one of them was a former All Black captain,
our former farmer. I don't know if he's still a
current farmer. Let's ask him. Andy Dalton good a. Andy.
Great to meet you in person. And what I found
out about you last night that you spent five summers
on the farm right next door to mine, and I
didn't know you existed you. I was working with John

(00:43):
McLay on his family farm there in Riversdale. Met John
walking the Milford Track when I was about fourteen or fifteen,
and every holiday after that I went down, enjoyed the
farming down there, and as a consequence of that, went
to Lincoln and farming. Eventually it fed my interest. His mother, Phyllis,
gave me my first tennis racket, an old slashship with

(01:06):
remember the old tennis rackets with the cat gun. If
you left them out in the rain, they would buckle. Anyhow,
this is all about you. So we talked about your
time in the All Blacks and that's pretty well documented
and I didn't get a chance to go there last night.
But life after Rugby for Andy Dalton, Yeah, Well, while
while I was playing rugby, when I started with the

(01:28):
All Blacks, I was a farm advisor and then we
bought our first block of land in Bombay, just out
of booker Koe in nineteen seventy eight, and then added
to that in eighty and eighty one and ended up
nine hundred acres here. And I was trying to run
that two little kids playing for the All Blacks and
not a lot of money coming in then. And later

(01:48):
in the eighties I put a manager on the farm
and we went into town and started a waste business
with some Frenzy and Stevens, who just recently died unfortunately
people in the Southern Club down and Dunedin would know
him well, and a very successful business that we subsequently
sold on to new Plex. I ran the Australasian waste

(02:11):
businesses for Newplex for a number of years and then
went into television and outdoor media production, which Lincoln taught
me all about. You're a man of many talents, and
of course you still kept your finger and the pie
as it were. With rugby. You were the CEO of
the Auckland Rugby Union and of course a president or
a former president of a New Zealand rugby union. So

(02:32):
you've kept You've kept that connection and still involved with
the foundation who looks after the severely injured players from
the game. So I got a good connect there as well,
which I really enjoy. And I've met some wonderful people
over the years. Jamie quite special. Last night I tried
to get it out of you because my old mate

(02:52):
Warwick Taylor. I don't know if he's listening, Hello Warwick
If you are, went on the Cavaliers tor and I
always try and weasel it out of him how much
you got paid. And I did have much luck with
you either last night. No, you didn't know, but your
business career took off after you came home from the
Capitoliers tour. Andy was that Jutison Capital funding. That's when
we had to go in to get off the farm.

(03:14):
Actually it was a pretty tough time and we were
paying twenty one percent interest rates. We're getting ten twelve
dollars for a store, Lamb, so it was pretty ugly
there for it. You've got your finger and all these
business pies, have you still got investment in farming? Only
ten acres now life sentence block in Waypoo and surrounded

(03:35):
by farmland, and I don't actually graze the property, to
be honest. I've got a neighbor looking after that for
me and fully involved in real estate, which I'm absolutely enjoying.
I got bored when I got up there, supposedly to
retire and now work my butt off actually, and my
wife keeps telling him I'm performing. I need to work
harder at it, so I do well while I've got
You would be remissing me not to talk a wee

(03:57):
bit of fuddy two years out, less than two years
out from the Rugby World Cup, we've had a change.
Dave Rennie's very highly rated. I was a wee bit
disappointed my man and Otago didn't get the job. Jamie Joseph,
But what chance the All Blacks, because it looks like
we're going to come up against the spring Box and
the quarter final. They are the best team in the
world at the moment. Yeah, I totally agree, and I

(04:20):
think this year is going to be a tough year
for Dave with them over their touring. The midweek games
will be as tough as a test matches, so they're
going to have a It'll be a fantastic tour to
go on, but it's going to be a tough one
for them. But I think they are going to be
totally focused now they know how short the runway is
and they'll be planning for that. And I'd still beat
Dave to get it sorted within the two years. Okay,

(04:42):
we'll be at Dolphin. Just a pleasure to meet you,
an absolute honor to meet you. You're a rugby legend.