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Written by Victor Meldrew
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Tuesday, 29 August 2006 |
 Big Frank first came into the All Blacks at a time when NZ forward play was lagging behind the NH and instilled some serious hardness to the team. Very much an engine-room lock forward, he was as hard as nails and gave no quarter. Never dirty, but impossible to intimidate, he was in the Robin Brooke/Keith Robinson mould. “A hard, tough, annoying bugger” as one opponent called him. A straight talking, no nonsense leader, he captained NZ in 3 tests.
Oliver won his first Test cap on the 1976 tour of Sth Africa – a tour which had a number of dirty games to it – not just hard and unruly but seriously vicious. At the end of the tour, the name Moaner Van Der Heerden was synonymous with cynical & dirty rugby in NZ. The AB forwards had been roughed up physically and mentally in the first 3 tests and it was interesting that the 4th test – Oliver’s first - was when the AB’s gained some parity.
As Terry McLean said in his book of the tour “Goodbye to Glory”
“… Oliver, also hardy, also tough, was the comer, the man who wanted to claw his way to the top and his reward of the last Test was well deserved.. For singular reasons he was known as “Tom Tom”. At each fixture, so it seemed, opponents had been warned of his physical prowess and, it would be said, “the tom-toms were beating as Frank came into town”. Little wonder. He was a Southland forward of the old school, and they haven’t come much better or tougher…”
In ’77 John Dawes Lions arrived with one of the most formidable packs seen in NZ. The AB forwards were pushed back repeatedly in the scrums and overwhelmed at times in the forward in the early tests. But the All Black pack had intelligence – particularly in the tight-five – and Frank was no fool when it came to the mechanics of forward play and Rugby in general. There was also a backline of legendary status which included some of the very greatest NZ have produced – Batty, BG Williams, Bruce Robertson, Sid Going and Bill Osborne. The series was won 3-1
That series was the start of the renaissance of NZ forward play and Oliver was a key member of it. Other players included Haden & Laurie Knight. There was a change of guard in the 3rd Test. Going was dropped, in came Graham Mourie, Lyn Colling & Doug Bruce. By the 4th Test the All Black forwards were starting to achieve parity with the Lions and the Oliver/Haden partnership was cemented
Oliver captain NZ against the Wobblies in ’78. Including the 3rd Test which was lost 30-16. He was replaced by Mourie as Captain, though this was never seen as a slight. In fact there was a rumour that he was offered the captaincy but turned it down. If he did it was a selfless and wise decision as Mourie was destined to become one of the very greatest All Black Captains. It was typical of Oliver that he gave his all to Mourie on the ’78 tour.
Oliver was a key member of Mourie’s ’81 Grand Slam team – and he gave a string of truly great performances. He mixed it with the best of them. When the All Blacks pillaged their way through Britain and Ireland on the Grand Slam tour of 1978, Oliver was undisputed master of the dark arts.
He was instrumental in THAT last-minute win against Wales and scored a crucial try against England which was won 16-6. The All Blacks showed that they were now the equal of the NH packs but were also very, very savvy and their loose forwards – particularly Mourie - took that part of the game to a new level. That wasn’t achieved without the hard grunt from the likes of Frank. And his ability to get the better of his opponents in a quiet, unseen way that Colin Meads would have been proud of. No-one intimidated the All Black forwards on that tour.
By the time Oliver retired from international Rugby in ’81, NZ forward play was back on its feet – due in no small measure to his dedication, skill and hard graft.
After his retirement he coached a number of teams but, according to his son Anton, he found the political in- fighting too much to bear and walked away. But there is also a strong suspicion that Frank's exasperation with the state of 21st-century rugby has much to do with a slow but inexorable sanitisation of the sport. In other words, he believes union has gone soft.
Test Career:
1976 v South Africa (Joburg) L 15-14
1977 v British Lions (Wellington) W 16-12
1977 v British Lions (Christchurch) L 13-9
1977 v British Lions (Dunedin) W 19-7
1977 v British Lions (Auckland) W 10-9
1977 v France (Toulouse) L 18-13
1977 v France (Paris) W 15-3
1978 v Australia (Wellington) W 13-12
1978 v Australia (Christchurch) W 22-6
1978 v Australia (Auckland) L 30-16
1978 v Ireland (Dublin) W 10-6
1978 v Wales (Cardiff) W 13-12
1978 v England (Twickenham) W 16-6
1978 v Scotland (Murrayfield) W 18-9
1979 v France (Christchurch) W 23-9
1979 v France (Auckland) L 24-19
1981 v South Africa (Wellington) L 24-12
Career Record: P17, W11, L6
Test Points: 4
Tries: 1
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