Looking Back to Black

Former All Black hooker Anton Oliver, 33, is now studying at Oxford University for an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, but he’ll play “one more decent game” against Cambridge in the Nomura Varsity Match on December 11 at Twickenham. Thinking back to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Oliver says he struggled to take off the All Black jersey for the last time, but he understood better than ever what it had meant to be an All Black. “I knew that night my life as a rugby player was finished. Full stop. Leaving the All Blacks is a bit like leaving the Mafia. When you leave, you leave. You’re gone. You’re not coming back, mate. Football boots removed, concrete boots go on. That’s it. No more.” Oliver most recently played for the French second-division club Toulon.