Southland rugby icon Ack Soper, 82, has been visited by the Winton-based Midland rugby team ahead of the Ack Soper Shield final this weekend.

The team also brought along the trophy that Mr Soper said he was "humbled and honoured" to have named after him.

The former All Black and his wife Lyndel now reside at the Rowena Jackson Retirement Village in Invercargill. He is a life member of Rugby Southland and played 103 games for the ‘Stags’ in the late 50s and 60s. He lived as a farmer near Athol and playing for the Country Pirates. He also gained caps for the All Blacks and has fond memories of some of the greats of the game such as Tiny Hill and Colin Meads.

This weekend Midlands will face off against Wyndham in the first ever final of the Ack Soper Shield.

Rugby Southland club development officer Bob Cullen said the competition had been rejuvenated with the establishment of the new shields. Given Mr Soper’s proud rugby history and respect in the province it had been decided to honour his contribution to the sport with the namesake trophy. And the teams taking part in the competition thought it fitting too.

“They’re all so proud to play under the banner of the Ack Soper Shield,” he said.

Ack Soper chats with members of the Midlands Rugby Club ahead of the final this weekend named in his honour.

Mr Soper remembers well starting early in the sport, making the Waitaki Boys High First XV as a fourth former. In 1954 he started as a Southland representative player, most often playing at number 8 at the back of the scrum. He continued to represent the province until 1966. During that time Southland held the Ranfurly Shield.

His All Black career included a 1957 tour of Australia. He played in eight of the 13 games that year across the Tasman alongside players like Tiny Hill. 

Earlier he’d been on a 1955 rugby tour of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for the New Zealand under-21 team meeting and making friends with the likes of Colin Meads and Wilson Whineray. Also, in a national under-23 team he toured Japan, with Whineray the captain of the team.

Married to Lyndel the pair went to London, where Mr Soper went on a working holiday and to play for the English team of Blackheath in the 1960-61 season, including a game at Twickenham.

Mr Soper said he had always loved the comradeship that rugby teams brought at any level and in any country. He and Mrs Soper loved their 10 months in the United Kingdom.

“Even playing for a small club was just as important as the bigger ones. Any rugby was great,” he said.

 With his representative career lasting until the mid-1960s he later went on to act as an administration and a club coach. In 1985 he was made president of the Southland union.

Ack and Lyndel Soper.