Frank Oliver (rugby union)

Frank Oliver

Full name	Francis James Oliver
Date of birth	(1948-12-24)24 December 1948
Place of birth	Dunedin, New Zealand
Date of death	16 March 2014(2014-03-16) (aged 65)
Place of death	Palmerston North, New Zealand
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	107 kg (16 st 12 lb)
School	Lawrence District High School
Notable relative(s)	Anton Oliver (son) Mark Donaldson (brother-in-law)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Lock
New Zealand No.	750
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1969–77 1978–79 1980–83	Southland Otago Manawatu	64 8 54
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1976–81	New Zealand	17	(4)
Coaching career
Years	Club / team
1993–94 1995–96 1998–99 1996–99 2001	New Zealand U19 Manawatu Central Vikings Hurricanes Blues

Francis James "Frank" Oliver (24 December 1948 – 16 March 2014) was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He captained the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, in four matches.

Biography

Born in Dunedin and educated at Lawrence District High School, Oliver made his provincial rugby debut for Southland in 1969. He later also played for Otago and Manawatu, playing a total of 213 first-class games.^[1]

Oliver played in the forwards as a lock and appeared in 43 matches for the All Blacks — 17 of them full test appearances — between 1976 and 1981, captaining the team in four matches. After retiring as a player in 1983, Oliver coached the Manawatu provincial team from 1995 to 1997 and the short-lived Central Vikings merged team from 1998 to 1999. In Super Rugby he coached the Hurricanes (1996–99) and the Blues (2001).^[1][2]

Oliver's son Anton followed in his father's footsteps, representing both Otago and New Zealand, and being All Blacks' captain.^[3] They are the first^[4] — and so far only — father-and-son combination to have captained the national side.

Outside of rugby, Oliver worked in forestry, and was running a sawmill business up until his death in 2014.^[3]

References