You always sensed that Scottish rugby was the most true-blue amateur of all, and this weighty book of nearly 500 pages does nothing to disaffirm that view. The authors interview…
Book Review
Rugby Book Review – We Could Be Heroes
NOT MANY people know this but the inaugural World Ubogu Championships took place in a London pub last year. The competition involves saying the word ‘Ubogu’ – as in the…
Rugby Book Review – A Social History of English Rugby Union
What do you get when you mix one of the world’s leading sports historians with one of the best sports archives bar none? One hell of a read, that’s what.…
Rugby Book Review – Rugby in the 19th Century
The Armchair Zone with Alan Pearey – Deputy Editor There have been some cracking rugby history books down the years, but never have we been treated to rugby writing by…
Rugby Book Review – The Rugby Coaching Manual
Even good coaching books can be heavy going for the reader, so how refreshing to discover something packed with sound advice yet as easy to digest as a forkful of…
Rugby Book Review – Lansdowne Road
In truth, Lansdowne Road’s history is rather more impressive than the dilapidated stadium that was demolished in 2006 to make way for the shiny new Aviva Stadium. Yet when the…
Rugby Book Review – Beware of the Dog
MAN OF extremes, and excess. Brian Moore celebrated the 1989 Lions win so hard that he got ridiculously drunk, made an Aussie guy ill through a drinking challenge, upset the…
Rugby Book Review – After the Lemons
SEVEN YEARS after the part-one Bath history Before the Lemons, we have the glory years, embracing a ten-year period when this remarkable small- city club – rugby’s version of Clough’s…
Rugby Book Review – For the Glory
TWO YEARS ago we reported on the interwar USA rugby team, which won back-to-back Olympic gold medals despite the fact many of the team were strangers to the game, writes…
Rugby Book Review – Captain in the Cauldron
THERE’S STILL a bit more petrol in his tank and John Smit hopes to make this year’s World Cup, which makes the timing of his autobiography surprising. Maybe he couldn’t…