Ringrose: Oliver was a 'huge help' to many during formative years

PERSPECTIVE: Garry Ringrose. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

The tragic news of Greig Oliver’s passing in South Africa this week has rippled outwards to all corners of a tight Irish rugby community where there are very few degrees of separation to be found across the game’s plains.

A former Scottish scrum-half, Oliver had more recently been serving as an elite performance officer with Munster but he held down numerous other roles here across the years with Cashel RFC, Garryowen, Munster ‘A’ and with Ireland at underage levels.

Oliver was involved with the Ireland U19s when Garry Ringrose first came across him and the pair crossed paths again when the current Leinster and Ireland star moved on to the U20s grade where the former scrum-half served as assistant coach between 2011 and 2014.

“His passing puts everything into perspective,” said Ringrose on Tuesday. “He's someone I dealt with in the past in underage and he was a huge help to me. I know most people that are in an Ireland jersey at the moment would say the same thing.

“Everyone is shocked and saddened. My thoughts are with his young lad over in South Africa at the moment and, of course, the rest of his family. It's just tragic and upsetting to hear. All of my thoughts, and everyone else's thoughts and prayers are with his family.” 

Ringrose is right about the extent of Oliver’s reach in Irish rugby.

Among the other current senior internationals to have benefited from his guidance during those days with the IRFU’s underage setups are a slew of current internationals that include Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson, Finlay Bealham and Robbie Henshaw.

The number of current pros who worked with Oliver during that spell extends to dozens and numbers of players from all the four provinces: Luke Marshall, Tiernan O’Halloran, Luke McGrath and Andrew Conway are just a few among them.

“Pretty formative years,” said Ringrose of those times. “Post-school, sub academy and academy with Ireland. That's when I would have dealt with him and I would have continued to deal with him up at the HPC.

“It doesn’t feel that long ago that I met him up there, I think there was a coach’s development thing and he was there with Munster. He was slagging me about Munster-Leinster not too long ago so it was gut-wrenching when I heard the news.” 

The sport of rugby has been shocked and stunned by the news of Oliver’s tragic passing in a paragliding accident in Cape Town with World Rugby joining the IRFU, Munster Rugby and many more in voicing their sadness and support for the family.

Mark Alexander, president of the South African Rugby Union, added to that chorus on Tuesday.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Oliver family at this terrible time and with the whole Irish team over whom a terrible shadow has been cast,” said Alexander.

“This tournament is about youth, enjoyment and shared experience for young men and their families and to have such an awful accident befall one of the players’ parents is distressing in the extreme.

“We all share the pain of the Oliver family and join them in their sorrow at what should have been a time of optimism and excitement.

“The South African Rugby Union, which is hosting the event on behalf of World Rugby, will do everything in its power to support the Oliver family in coping with this terrible situation.”