For over 130 years the British & Irish Lions have stood out as a symbol of the ethics, values and romance at the heart of rugby union. To represent the Lions is the pinnacle for every international player in Britain and Ireland, and the dream of tens of thousands of avid fans who fol-low them. A Lions tour, undertaken every four years to the southern hemisphere, is more than a series of rugby matches played out on foreign fields; it is an epic crusade where the chosen few face a succession...

The greatest show in rugby kicks off in September at the Tokyo Stadium and for the following six weeks the focus of the rugby world will be on England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as the 20 countries in the ninth World Cup Finals battle for supremacy. The Rugby Paper, Britain's best-selling Rugby title, is publishing The Rugby Paper's Essential World Cup Guide 2019. This dedicated 132 page guide from a brilliant line-up of writers headed by Fleet Street greats Nick Cain and Peter Jackson w...

This is a complete history of the England rugby union team - told by the players themselves. Based on a combination of painstaking research into the early years of the England team through exclusive interviews with a vast array of Test match stars from before the Second World War to the present day, world-renowned rugby writers Stephen Jones and Nick Cain delve to the very heart of the English international rugby union experience, painting a unique and utterly compelling picture of the gam...

Since it was founded in 1982, The Wire magazine has covered a vast range of alternative, experimental, underground and non-mainstream music. Now some of that knowledge has been distilled into The Wire Primers: a comprehensive guide to the core recordings of some of the most visionary and inspiring, subversive and radical musicians on the planet, past and present. Each chapter surveys the musical universe of a particular artist, group or genre by way of a contextualizing i...

Richie McCaw, Rugby World Cup winning captain and the New Zealand All Black's most capped player of all time, is unquestionably the greatest player of his generation. He is arguably the most talented player of all time.In his bestselling autobiography, McCaw talks with brutal honesty about the roots of his family life that defined his character and how it gave him the strength to emerge from the lowest moment in his career to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, and become the most successful ...

The most capped England rugby scrum-half of all time, a captain of his country, and a two-times British Lions tourist, Matt Dawson’s career story is a colourful tale spiced with controversy, from club rugby at Northampton to England winning the Rugby World Cup in Australia.The boy from Birkenhead learnt the game the hard way, working as a security guard and an advertising salesman in his formative years, in the days when rugby players found relief in an active and alcoholic social ...

Dan Carter's last game as an All Black culminated with him declared Man of the Match following the 2015 Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham - an unforgettable ending to the career of the greatest fly-half of all time.But along with the triumphs of his signature World Cup win, his performance against the Lions in 2005, and an unprecedented run of Bledisloe Cup successes, there was also the pain and doubt he felt during a prolonged period of injury and rehab following the 2011 World ...

The revealing autobiography of New Zealand rugby legend Jerome Kaino. As the Rugby World Cup approaches, All Black legend and World Cup champion Jerome Kaino reflects on what it takes to be the best. At just 21 years old Jerome Kaino was touted as the next big thing in world rugby. In his first year of professional rugby, he made spectacular debuts for Auckland, the Blues and the All Blacks. It was a dream beginning for this quiet Samoan kid from South Auckland. But just ...

WINNER OF THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEARThe revelatory autobiography of a rugby colossus: Paul O'Connell.There has never been a rugby player quite like Paul O'Connell. He is synonymous with passion, heart and determination; but he is also the thinking man's rugby player, a legendary student of the game.As the heartbeat of Munster, British and Irish Lions captain in 2009, and captain of the first Ireland team to ...

The number one bestselling autobiography of the greatest rugby player of our time: Brian O'Driscoll.Since 1999, when he made his international debut, there has been no greater player in world rugby than Brian O'Driscoll. In 2010 Rugby World magazine named him its world player of the decade - and since then the legend has only grown.Now, at the end of his amazing career - which culminated in fairy-tale fashion with Ireland's victory in the 2014 Six ...

Jonny Wilkinson's career has crossed three decades and four World Cups. He has accumulated phenomenal achievements, world points records, an impressive list of broken body parts, and a drop goal that will be remembered for ever. But the peculiar calmness with which he played the game masked a very different reality. In JONNY, he reveals the extraordinary psychology that he had to tame in order to be able to dominate his sport. For most of his life, he was driven by a quest for perfection a...

The world of the international rugby referee has always been a closely guarded secret … until now.As a Durban schoolboy, Jonathan Kaplan watched rugby at Kings Park every Saturday, dreaming of the day he would represent his country. Now, three decades later and at the age of 47, he reflects on the career highs and lows that saw him retire as the most capped international, Super Rugby and Currie Cup referee of all time.But records and milestones are just a part of an intrigu...