2007 RWC All Black: Anton Oliver
Anton Oliver was born in Invercargill on the 9th of September 1975. He comes from a strong rugby heritage with father Frank Oliver captaining the All Blacks in 1978. Anton Oliver first played for the All Blacks in 1996 and has since represented the team in 55 test matches scoring a total of 15 points. He is said to bring strength, leadership and experience to the All Black front row.
Where are your favourite places in New Zealand?
I guess like most New Zealanders my favourite places are in a natural setting. I like space, and I like grandeur, and I like silence. And therefore I like places up in Central Otago, in the Mackenzie Basin, where there aren’t many people. I’ve got my pilot licence and I’ve been flying down the northern aspects of Fiordland, flown into Queenstown a few times and around Wanaka and into the Mackenzie Basin. It is just massive miles of nothing but it’s full of everything that I need, so looking at it from the air is a different perspective.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
As well as flying, I enjoy fly-fishing. For me it’s pure and almost meditative, where you’re just out on the water and nothing else really exists, you’re in tune with the sun and the wind and what’s happening on the water and what nymph life or insect life is happening. Other interests include collecting antiques but also buying New Zealand contemporary art. I like to scuba dive and I read a lot of literature and New Zealand poetry. I’ve got a small, mudbrick cottage in Central Otago, so I go there and rusticate.
Why do you think New Zealand produces such good rugby players?
I think because we’re still a relatively young nation, if you look at the bicultural aspects of it, there’s still a large part of our identity infused with playing rugby, breaking in the earth, and coming here, having to prove ourselves as we did in Gallipoli and the Second World War and the Boer War as well. We’ve taken that and we’ve put it on the sports field. To a large degree it’s shaped our identity. So the reason we’re good at it is because we kind of have to be, it’s part of who we are, it’s genetically imprinted in us.
What does the haka mean to you?
The haka is a really interesting thing, because at the end of the haka we are all at the same place mentally. From when we leave the changing room, to when we sing the anthem and perform the haka, everyone’s got their own personal journey, and everyone goes in different ways, but we all end up in the same place. Some guys use it as a way to psych up while others don’t like to go too hard out because they end up fried. We don’t actually start that well in games, and I think it’s because we come out of the haka and straight into the game, and we’re just over-aroused and our attention, our focus, is narrowed, and we make mistakes.
How important is the 2007 World Cup to you?
Everyone wants to talk about winning the World Cup. But the way for a sportsman to deal with that is to focus on process. We’ve got to focus on doing what we know how to do, and that’s just doing your daily things, your training, your recovery, your skills, your preparation, mental preparation, diet. And if we do all those things right individually, and collectively we pull it together, then the results will come.
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