Oliver marks 100th game

Anton Oliver had a stuttering start to the Super 12 in 1996, but will make history on Friday when he becomes the first New Zealander to play 100 games in the competition.

When the series started in 1996, Oliver was suspended for the Highlanders' first two matches after a retaliatory punch in the NPC final the year before removed several of Craig Dowd's teeth.

Oliver, who was replaced for those two games by David Latta, thought he was then extremely fortunate to make his Super 12 debut against the Stormers in Cape Town.

Despite that stalled beginning, a serious achilles tendon injury and a knee problem, Oliver will reach the century milestone ahead of Justin Marshall, Tana Umaga and Carlos Spencer. The 29-year-old hooker will be just the second player to reach the mark-after Brumbies star George Gregan- when he leads the Highlanders on to Carisbrook against the Blues.

"When I first started I thought such a target was an impossibility," Oliver confessed yesterday. "Mind you, everything has changed so much in that time.

"I was 19 then and all I could think about was having a few beers on Saturday and where my next meal was coming from."