Frank Oliver (rugby player)

Frank Oliver

Player information
Full name	Francis James Oliver
birthday	December 24, 1948
place of birth	Dunedin , New Zealand
society
society	Career ended
position	Second row striker
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1980-1983	Southland Rugby Otago RFU Manawatu RU	64 8 54
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1976-1981	New Zealand	17 (4)
Coaching stations
Years	Association / Province / Franchise
1993–1994 1995–1996 1998 1996–1999 2001	New Zealand U19 Manawatu RU Central Vikings Hurricanes Blues
Status: December 14, 2009 National team August 29, 1981

Francis James "Frank" Oliver (born December 24, 1948 in Dunedin , New Zealand , † March 16, 2014 in Palmerston North , New Zealand) was a New Zealand national rugby union player on the position of second-line striker and after his playing career Rugby coach.

Career

Oliver began his playing career in New Zealand's provincial rugby in 1969 with the Southland Rugby team . Later he also played for the provincial teams Otago RFU and Manawatu RU in the New Zealand championship called the National Provincial Championship (NPC). In 1976 he was appointed to the squad of the New Zealand national team ( All Blacks ). He made his international debut on September 18 of the same year in the 14:15 loss to South Africa in Johannesburg . In 1977 he was selected again for the national team to play for them against the British and Irish Lions during their tour to New Zealand. The New Zealanders won this tour with four wins from four games. Oliver was used in all four encounters against the Lions. In 1978 he led the All Blacks in three international matches against Australia as team captain. His team won two of the three home games. In the same year he reached a so-called Grand Slam with the All Blacks for the first time in their history . The New Zealanders managed to beat all four so-called Home Nations of rugby union, England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales , during a tour of Europe. Again, Oliver played in all four games. New Zealand was only able to repeat this success 25 years later. However, he was also part of the team that surprisingly lost against the Irish provincial team Munster Rugby in Limerick 0:12 during the same tour . His last game for the All Blacks was the 12:24 loss to South Africa on August 29, 1981. This second test was part of a tour of South Africa to New Zealand, which the All Blacks won 2-1. It was overshadowed by massive protests and rioting, as many New Zealanders condemned the South African apartheid regime of whites and considered it inappropriate for New Zealand to play games against such a country. Oliver played 43 times for the All Blacks between 1976 and 1981. Among these games were 17 full internationals, three of which he played as the national team captain.

After retiring from active rugby in 1983, Oliver became a coach. He coached the U19, U21 and the first team of the Invergargill RFC. This was followed by a position as assistant coach in the Manawatu Province and the coaching post of the New Zealand U19 national team in 1993/94. In 1995/1996 he was the head coach of Manawatu. He then coached the New Zealand franchise Hurricanes in the new Super 12 international championship . Since NPC and Super 12 did not overlap, he also began to train the Central Vikings in 1998 . With them he was able to win the second division of the NPC. After this season, the association, which was only founded in 1997, was reintegrated into the original associations Hawke's Bay RU and Manawatu RU for financial reasons . The Hurricanes managed under him in 1997 the semi-finals in the second season of the Super 12 , but failed there because of the Australian franchise Brumbies with 20:33 in Canberra . In 2001 he took over the New Zealand Super 12 franchise Blues . There he was less successful and was released after a season.

Oliver's son Anton Oliver is also a former All Blacks captain as well as a former Otago player.

Web links

• Profile on allblacks.com