Greig Oliver: A proud son of Hawick who made his mark on Scottish and Irish rugby

It says everything about Greig Oliver that the tributes following his sudden and tragic death at 58 came in equal measure from Scotland and Ireland.

Greig Oliver in action for Scotland against Zimbabwe at the 1991 Rugby World Cup at Murrayfield. Picture: Ian Rutherford

He served both countries with distinction during a rugby career in which he scaled the heights as a player before moving into coaching and development, proving to be equally adept at nurturing talent. He spent the last 16 years working in the Irish game. His death, in a paragliding accident in Cape Town, was described as “an unspeakable tragedy” by Kevin Potts, chief executive of the Irish Rugby Football Union, and your heart goes out to his family, wife Fiona and children Jack and Ciara. Oliver had been in South Africa to watch Jack, 20, play for Ireland in the World Under-20 Rugby Championship and Fiji presented the Irish with a jersey in his honour on Tuesday before their match in Stellenbosch.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Jack is a scrum-half but wears the green of Ireland. It’s a colour which suited Greig well during his playing days when he was a vital cog in the all-conquering Hawick team of the 1980s. He played 336 games for the club, from his debut as an 18-year-old in 1982, until 1997. His formative years were spent under the tutelage of the great Bill McLaren at Hawick High School and he went on to be a mainstay of Hawick RFC’s title-winning teams, helping them to four consecutive Scottish championships between 1984 and 1987 when the club game was king and teams were peppered with international players. He also helped Hawick win the inaugural Scottish Cup, defeating Watsonians in the final at Murrayfield in 1996.

“Greig was very much Hawick through and through and everyone is devastated at the news. We can hardly take it in,” said John Thorburn, his friend and the club’s long-serving secretary. “I spoke to him last week on social media, and he was talking about going over to South Africa to watch Jack who has been making great strides with Ireland. He was obviously very proud.”

Oliver’s Hawick form in the 1980s led to representative honours with the South and then Scotland. He developed into an international scrum-half and played in two Rugby World Cups for Scotland and was part of the 1990 Grand Slam squad. His haul of three caps seems meagre by today’s standards but it was Oliver’s misfortune that he found himself understudying two of Scotland’s greatest ever scrum-halves during a nevertheless fulfilling career.

He travelled to the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand as back-up to Roy Laidlaw and played in the group stage match against Zimbabwe, scoring a try in the 60-21 win in Wellington. He continued to be a fixture in Scotland squads but found himself on the bench in an era when replacements were used only for injured players. He was back-up to Gary Armstrong as Scotland won all four matches to clinch the 1990 Five Nations then won his second cap shortly afterwards on the tour to New Zealand, coming off the bench in the narrow 21-18 defeat by the All Blacks in the second Test at Eden Park. He retained his place in the squad for the 1991 World Cup, winning his final cap in similar circumstances to his first, a pool match against Zimbabwe, which Scotland won 51-12 at Murrayfield. The team went to reach the semi-finals but were edged out 9-6 by England in Edinburgh, with Oliver back on the bench. It remains Scotland’s best showing at a World Cup.

“He was a dedicated guy,” recalls Thorburn. “He would go down to Mansfield Park on a Friday afternoon and practise his kicking. He had a prodigious left boot but he practised like hell – he didn’t have it when he first came to the club. I know he always credited Bill McLaren with helping him develop at Hawick High School.”

If Oliver had proved himself the consummate team man with both Hawick and Scotland, he was equally collaborative off the field. I first came across him at the Southern Reporter newspaper in Selkirk when I joined as a trainee reporter in 1993. Greig was the sports editor in a small team led by the estimable John Smail. Greig, who had worked as a Linotype operator at the paper during the hot metal days, retrained as a journalist. He was still playing rugby – then strictly amateur – and his contacts and deep knowledge of the game helped him produce excellent sports pages which served most of the Borders.

Greig Oliver coaching Hawick against Currie at Mansfield Park in 2002, the year he led them to a league and cup double. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Greig was unfailingly helpful to this newcomer, explaining the sometimes complex quirks of Borders life, particularly around inter-town rivalries. He took me out during the Hawick Common Riding, introducing me to Jim Renwick, Harry Whittaker and other rugby greats on a memorable evening. While he enjoyed journalism, rugby was his true calling and when the game turned professional opportunities opened up. He left the newspaper to become a development officer for the SRU. He was an academy manager with Scottish Rugby for 13 years from 1994, during which time he was Scotland U-20 head coach for a spell. He also returned to Hawick as a coach, and led them to a league and cup double in 2001-02. He then worked with the Border Reivers pro team but when they folded he moved to Ireland and held a number of coaching roles with the Garryowen club, Munster A, Ireland U-20 and, since 2011, as Munster’s elite performance officer.

Craig Chalmers, his friend and Scotland team-mate, was among those to pay tribute on social media. “Absolutely devastated to hear of the passing of my good friend Greig Oliver,” said the 1990 Grand Slam hero. “I was lucky to spend many great times on and off the pitch with him playing for the South or touring with Scotland. My thoughts are with Fiona, Jack, Ciara and his family at this very sad time. RIP Mate.”

Colin Gass, his halfback partner at Hawick, said: “It was a pleasure playing in a great Hawick team with Greig. RIP”