Death of mentor sadly recalled in Oliver's book

On the field he is a true rugby hardman, but Anton Oliver has no problem admitting to frequent bouts of crying in Anton Oliver Inside.

There was the time he left his mum at the airport to fly to Palmerston North to see his dad, Frank, a former All Black lock.

There was the time in Rome in November last year when he was named in the test team to play Italy, a test that marked his return to the All Blacks fold after being dropped for the World Cup the year before.

But undoubtedly the tears that stung hardest were the ones he shed when he farewelled his mentor, former coach and great friend Gordon Hunter.

The Otago legend was dying of cancer, having endured a long battle with the insidious disease.

Oliver had just been at the Highlanders 2002 pre-season camp at Owaka.

"I had come back to Dunedin to find that Gordon Hunter was fading. Clearly he wasn't going to be with us much longer.

"Every time I called to see Gordon someone else was there and I felt that either I was intruding on their time, or not getting enough time to talk to Gordon one on one," Oliver writes.

"So I decided to go and see him at nights. He was afraid of the dark and didn't want to go to sleep for fear of never waking again. I was deeply saddened and shaken by Gordon's plight."

Hunter joked that Oliver was reporting for the "night shift", and Oliver would often stay until 3 or 4am. After three or four nights in a row, what with the intensive training at that time of the year, I was shattered and badly in need of more sleep.

"My father was another who came down from the north to say his last goodbyes, and although neither of them said as much, both knew that's what it was. "One day the three of us got in a car and drove to Lawrence, a bit over an hour's drive west of Dunedin where Frank was born and had grown up as a kid.

"It had been decades since Dad had been back in Lawrence and Gordon insisted that I sat in the front alongside Frank who was driving. Real father and son stuff.

"That was Gordon, always one seeking to build rather than burn bridges."

Hunter wanted to be buried in an Otago blazer and Oliver had one made for him. The day he drove out to Hunter's to deliver it he knew it would be the last time he saw him.

"I got up, went downstairs and out onto the balcony and had a massive cry. Someone came to comfort me; I can't remember who. I trudged up to my truck and drove away sobbing uncontrollably.

"A Dave Dobbyn song, Beside You, was on the CD player. Every time I hear that heartfelt song, with its intimations of the importance of gratitude, and its insistence on loyalty, I am reminded of what an indelible mark Gordon's last days made on me."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY