Frank Oliver (rugby union)

Frank Oliver

Birth 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) James Oliver (son) Mark Donaldson (brother-in-law)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Lock Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1969–77 Southland 64 () 1978–79 Otago 8 () 1980–83 Manawatu 54 () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1976–81 New Zealand 17 (4) Coaching career Years Team 1993–94 New Zealand U19 1995–96 Manawatu 1998–99 Central Vikings 1996–99 Hurricanes 2001 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.

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).

Oliver's son Anton followed in his father's footsteps, representing both Otago and New Zealand, and being All Blacks' captain. They are the first — and so far only — father-and-son combination to have captained the national side. Another son, James, played provincial rugby as a flanker and number 8 for Horowhenua Kapiti (11 games), Manawatu (43 games) and captained the New Zealand Universities team in 2013.

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