THERE WILL BE a lot of people thinking of Greig Oliver tomorrow. The former Munster coach was a proud Scotsman with roots firmly planted in Limerick. While he would have wanted to see the Munster lads go well against Scotland at the Stade de France, he’d be cheering for his home country. His old teammate and long-time friend, Craig Chalmers, has no doubt about that.
“He’d be all-in on Scotland,” says the former out-half, quashing any suggestion of split loyalties.
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Oliver was tragically killed following a paragliding accident in Cape Town on 3 July, having been in South Africa to watch his son, Jack, play for the Ireland U20s at the U20 World Championships. Known for his work in developing young players at Munster, Oliver was a hugely popular figure whose death shocked many involved with both Irish and Scottish rugby.
Chalmers first met Oliver when he was breaking into the Scotland team in the late 1980s, and they remained good friends long after their time together as teammates.
“I was 18. He was a bit older than me, and was the scrum-half on the bench for my first Scotland game,” Chalmers says.
“We toured together to Zimbabwe in 1988, Greig was my scrum-half in the two Test matches over there. Then we toured New Zealand in 1990, Canada and America in 1991. We just hit it off, we got on well off the field as well as on the field. We were quite close in those days.”
Chalmers went on to be capped 60 times for Scotland, but Oliver found it more difficult to break into the Test side. It wasn’t for lack of talent. An energetic, hardy scrum-half from Hawick, Oliver won his first Scotland cap at the 1987 Rugby World Cup, scoring a try on debut against Zimbabwe. He featured regularly on Scotland tours in the following years but won just three official Test caps.
“He was an excellent player,” Chalmers continues.
He had a great box-kick, a good kicker of a ball, and he could run as well. His passing was good. And he was an aggressive little bugger as well at times. He wouldn’t take a backwards step. Scrum-halves do a lot of shouting and bossing. He was quiet off the pitch but on the field he was a leader.
“But he probably couldn’t have played at a worse time in terms of getting Scotland caps. He played when Roy Laidlaw was on the go, then Greig came along and sat on the bench a lot to Roy. Then when Roy retired Gary Armstrong came in. So Greig was always there, he was a constant for years, but he must have sat on the bench 40 times.
“Greig played in a number of games and tours where recently people have been awarded caps, so Canada, America, Tonga, Samoa, all these places, Zimbabwe.
“He was a quality player, he was just really unlucky as far as Scotland caps were concerned because of the timing and the guys that were there. The fact that nobody got subbed in those days or really got injured too badly, nobody was coming off. So Greig had to bide his time, but he was a great team man. He never lost his spirit or passion for it.”
When his playing career ended Oliver moved into coaching, working in various roles with the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh before leaving Scotland for Ireland in 2007. One of his first ports of call was Garryowen.
“He became a coach at Garryowen when I was just finishing as captain,” explains Peter Malone.
This is how I’d tend to remember the late great Greig Oliver (pictured beside Pete Malone here).
— Justin Deegan (@JustinDeegan_) July 3, 2023
Plenty to say always, and by feck he loved this game. Was always proud of every player he worked with.
We’ve lost a good’un.
A true and loyal ledge ❤️ pic.twitter.com/znbgTSWqOs
“The big sense I got from Greig as soon as you worked with him all, he had technical excellence, really good on the small details technically, and then a very good person. A very loyal person, very dedicated to his craft and a guy that I built a good friendship with over the last 15 years.”
Oliver and Malone went on to work together as coaches at Munster, where Oliver was appointed Elite Player Development Officer. Not that a job title could truly define Oliver’s influence. He also worked with Munster’s age-grade sides, the Munster ‘A’ team and the Ireland U20s. Helping young players fulfil their potential became his passion.
“He did great work with 9s and had a great relationship as a mentor with guys like Conor Murray, Duncan Williams, the younger 9s coming through,” Malone explains.
“It wasn’t just his technical skills, it was his ability to coach gently, give feedback, question and challenge guys, and then keep a relationship where they trusted him. Through a good few iterations of coaches, these scrum-halves would have stayed working with Greig. Greig would have been the Academy coach and they’d still have gone to him at the end of a session to look for extra passing and stuff like that.
And different players as well. There would have been guys who came into the Academy as long shots to make it, and if Greig saw something in them, he’d champion them and support them, and he’d be pushed at different stages but would say ‘No, this guy has got something.’
“It would be unfair to name names but invariably, those guys would have come through. There’s probably five or six backs in the current Munster setup and at 18 or 19, it would have been Greig who said ‘I see something in this guy.’ He was very good at spotting that (talent) in young players and then building a good relationship with those players, and invariably those players would get the best out of themselves and become professionals.
“That required a lot of energy to always push that through. Energy and passion, but he was so passionate about getting the best out of young players, pushing them through and seeing if you could get them through a certain ceiling.
“I know he was delighted the last few years with the amount of young players coming through Munster and finally getting their chance after a few years waiting. He was really happy with how many guys were getting their opportunity over the last 12-18 months. He’d been pushing for that for a long time.”
The detail and dedication Oliver brought to his rugby stretched to other areas of his life.
“Greig had a reputation of being tidy,” says Chalmers. “Whoever roomed with him on tour, backs normally roomed with forwards, and I always remember Kenny Milne, who was called the Skunk because he could be a bit scruffy… Kenny just emptied his bag out on the floor and when he came back into the room, Greig would have had tidied it all up. If you left your shoes the wrong way round or left one on the other side of the room, Greig would have it tidied up in no time. He was very much a tidy freak.”
“You could get under the skin of Greig quite easily himself because he was OCD about his tidiness,” adds Malone.
“A few of the lads used to come in in the morning and move three things around on his desk. Greig would spend 20 minutes frowning and frustrated then putting things back in order, but it would always just be enough to set him off.
“But he was great for having the craic with lads and he was quite energetic about it. He’d put great energy into his tricks as well.”
Oliver was never front and centre at Munster, but his enthusiasm behind the scenes made him an invaluable member of the club.
“A lot of the time people want to be seen to be pushing for the highest role you can get at senior level,” Malone continues, “but in the Academy and younger age groups, you need people who maybe care a bit more or can spend a bit more time and get players through a certain hump or over a skill deficiency they need to work on, and have the patience and time to do that with a player over a long time and Greig had that in an absolute abundance.
“It was a passion of his to get players working on passing off their left hand. If you were a kicking player, you had to be two-footed. As a 9, 10 or even a 15, Greig would say you have to have two feet. He pushed players all the time to have that option and it would have been a passion of his. That takes patience, time, energy, and he had all of that.
He was so good with those younger groups, and they always respected him for it. Of course they honoured him at the funeral, but over time, those guys would have done anything for Greig. Rory Scannell, Shane Daly, Conor Murray, they had so much time for Greig…
“When you met Greig and formed any relationship at all, you always kept it. Greig was so good at keeping contact with people. The former players that he worked with, going back to his Irish 20s days and Munster Academy days and beyond, he would have always kept a connection and they’d love keeping that connection with him. Guys like Jack O’Donoghue, who he’d have brought into Munster 20s and would have been in the Irish 20s, himself and Jack were great buddies up until Greig’s passing.”
Oliver’s first Scottish rugby jersey, his first international cap and his coaching whistle were among the items placed on his coffin at his funeral in Castletroy.
“He was always proud of his roots,” Malone adds. “If a young lad from Hawick came through, you’d be hearing about him all the time. I’m sure he was very happy to see Darcy Graham score four tries last week.
But when he came over to Limerick he came to Garryowen, the club of his father-in-law and wife, and it always mattered to him. He stayed a Garryowen man through his work with Munster and beyond. Jack plays with Garryowen.
“So Greig committed. He bought into Limerick rugby and Munster rugby, and absolutely did everything in his power to help develop both Garryowen and Munster in his time here, but without doubt he was a proud Hawick man and a proud Scotsman.That was who he was, but he gave everything to the cause of Garryowen, Limerick, Munster and Irish rugby. Absolutely.”
“He was just such a good guy,” adds Chalmers.
“I unfortunately couldn’t get to the funeral in Ireland but there was a service in Hawick. It was emotional, because my Dad actually died in Hawick watching me play. So a lot of memories stirred up… Myself and John Jeffrey went across for a weekend to Hawick Common Riding with Greig once and it was an absolute blast. So good memories. I had a lot of great times with Greig.
“A nicer guy you couldn’t meet, but he was good fun as well. He was a great guy taken far too soon, and he’s sorely missed.”
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