KEY POINTS:
It is the calm before the storm, and it will come as no surprise that Anton Oliver has gone to find some peace and quiet to make the most of it.
Oliver decided to get completely away from his teammates and the World Cup to maximise a two-day
break from his All Black commitments.
"We've got to know this French doctor who's been liaising with us," said Oliver.
"He's got a friend who's got a little hut about two hours up in the Alps somewhere.
"I'm going to go up there and just go walking for a couple of days."
Oliver has a pretty good handle on how the All Blacks are travelling and believes management has made a smart move by giving the players two days out from the routine of training.
"This is probably the only chance we'll get to take a break from each other. Hopefully, the boys will take the correct approach and come back energised and ready to play."
It is also the right time because this is the last week the All Blacks face soft opponents in the pool stage.
Romania should provide little opposition but then the tournament will get serious when the All Blacks play France [likely], Australia [probably] and South Africa [almost certainly] in consecutive weeks. Oliver pointed out the tournament-of-two-halves theory was particularly applicable to the All Blacks.
"You know, France have played Argentina and Ireland, and we haven't had opposition as strong as that." There was no boredom despite the long days between games against weak opposition, Oliver said.
There had been a sense that Marseille, where the All Blacks stayed for much of the first two weeks, had got slightly stale. The veteran Otago hooker was one player pleased to get on the road to Edinburgh, with trips to Toulouse, Cardiff and Paris to come.
"It's very interesting, the psychology of staying in the same place for a while," Oliver said.
"As soon as you move, everything changes. There are the obvious things, like the training facilities. But also your whole mindset changes.
"If you stay in one place too long, you get stagnant. I think we reached the right time to move on. "
Oliver agreed with the common view that it was a pity the World Cup was not based entirely in France. He is getting to know the country very well, which is handy, considering it will be his home in a couple of months.
Oliver is joining the great southern contingent at the Toulon club in the far south. He, Andrew Mehrtens and Victor Matfield are the marquee recruits of a second division club with lofty goals and a new coach by the name of Tana Umaga.
Oliver had plenty of time to check out his new digs when the All Blacks were in Marseille but he chose not to visit.
"I'm here to play for the All Blacks and my mind and focus is on that. Toulon is for another time and place. I spoke to Tana at our hotel. I told him if it was just going to be him and Mehrts and me hanging out, I would have gone. But it wasn't going to be like that."
Oliver's test resume now includes 58 caps (52 starts).
He is the third-most capped front-rower in All Black history. While he will not get within cooee of Sean Fitzpatrick's 92 caps, he will overtake Craig Dowd (60) if he appears in three play-off games over the next three weeks.
The end is near, and in a sense Oliver is playing like it. He is looking for the ball and his often criticised lineout throwing has been fine. He is a genuine chance to be the starting hooker in the sudden-death stages.
"The conditioning period was really good for me, not just physically but mentally," he said.
"When you get to the end of your test career, as I am, everything becomes really concentrated and acute.
"It's also the nature of a World Cup. It's such a fun tournament to be a part of. You can't help but enjoy yourself."
Otago Daily Times
