Hawick to host memorial service for ex-Scotland scrum-half Greig Oliver

Greig Oliver coaching Hawick against Currie at Mansfield Park in 2002, the year he led them to a league and cup double (Picture: Ian Rutherford)

It’s to take place in the Mansfield Road ground’s main on Wednesday, September 20, starting at noon.

All are welcome to attend to pay their respects to the ex-international.

Oliver died at the age of 58 at the beginning of July following a paragliding accident in South Africa.

A photo of former internatiomal scrum-half Greig Oliver was screened as a tribute during Scotland's 25-21 win against France at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium in August (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)

He was in Cape Town at the time to support his son Jack, an Ireland player, at this year’s World Rugby Under-20 Championship.

After making his debut for his home-town club as an 18-year-old, Oliver helped them win four back-to-back Scottish titles from 1984 to 1987, as well as representing South of Scotland.

He also earned three Scottish caps, starting against Zimbabwe at the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cups and being brought off the bench versus New Zealand in 1991.

The ex-Southern Reporter sports editor went into coaching after retiring as a player, working as development officer for the Scottish Rugby Union, the national under-20 team and Hawick, as an assistant coach during their 2001 Scottish Championship-winning campaign and head coach the year after, winning both the league and Scottish cup, a feat not repeated by the Greens until this year.

He moved to Limerick in Ireland, that being where his widow Fiona is from, in 2007, initially working as director of rugby at Garryowen before being recruited by the Irish Rugby Football Union in 2011 as an elite performance officer at Munster’s academy.