Imagine a Springbok as a finished product coming off a factory assembly line. What are the components required? And what does it take for them to cohere into a successful team? Author Liz McGregor spent two years behind the scenes interviewing the players, coaches, wives and girlfriends, mothers and teachers. She also spoke to the Bok doctor and physio, the sponsors, brand managers and the logistics guy. And then there’s the boss, the South African Rugby Union.

What she discovered is as fascinating as it is complex: that parents play a crucial role, as do those early coaches and teachers who identify and nurture talent; that injury lurks behind every corner; that it takes incredible courage to go back onto the field to face another battering; and that the ‘business’ of the Springboks is one that is both well and poorly managed, depending where you look.

By the end of her journey, McGregor had developed a deep regard for the players and many of the people who work to put the best team South Africa can offer onto the field. Nelson Mandela showed how a Springbok team can unite a nation. But there are parts of the Springbok Factory that are in urgent need of repair or, indeed, replacement.

Argentina made history at Rugby World Cup 2007 by finishing third in the world. The South American nation finished the World Cup ahead of traditional powers including Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and hosts France - all have previously hosted matches in multiple World Cup tournaments. In finishing third in 2007, Argentina became the only Rugby World Cup semi finalist who has not yet hosted a Rugby World Cup.Since then rugby has undergone significant changes to at last adjust to professionalism. Now a part of The Rugby Championship Argentina is a rugby nation in rapid transition and Argentina has officially been accepted as an elite team backed by a responsible union. With England hosting in 2015 and Japan in 2019, it will be time for a Southern Hemisphere country to host in 2023. By 2023 Oceania would have hosted three World Cup's, Africa one, Asia one and Europe four and the Americas zero. Rich in tradition and packed with talent Argentina 2023 is certain to be a roaring success.

"The Wigan Warriors Miscellany" is the definitive set text for every fan of the world famous cherry and whites. Packed with facts, fun, gossip, nostalgia, and conjecture, it looks back over 138 years of glorious history to celebrate the personalities, victories, and controversies of the sport's biggest name. Handily pocket-sized to pull out in the middle of those pub arguments over who was the fastest, dirtiest, or biggest, this book will not only tell you who scored the most tries, kicked the most goals, or won the most trophies, but also who earned the most red cards, did best on Every Second Counts and broke cricketer David Boon's record for beer consumption on a flight to Australia. Put down your pie and pick up a copy.

A comprehensive history of the oldest surviving rugby club in Bristol. Founded in 1872 by Masters and former pupils of Clifton College, its roots go back to Rugby School itself. This all started with www.cliftonrfchistory.co.uk which has now become the largest rugby club history website in the world.

South Africa is a land of contrasts, as the tourist brochures promise, and this is true for the game of rugby.

From the Pretoria heartland to the aspirant Eastern Cape, from the hardscrabble Cape Flats to the islands of privilege at Bishops and Grey College, no other rugby-playing nation has to grapple with so much diversity. Different languages, classes, races and cultures - each bearing the wounds of the country's fractured past - have to be melded into winning teams.

Liz McGregor has spent the past three years shadowing Currie Cup, Super 14 and Springbok teams across the country, and has come to the conclusion that it is this very diversity, combined with the pain of the past and the dreams of a great united future, that provide the elusive alchemy that separates a good team from a great one.

Touch, Pause, Engage! is more than a book about rugby. It is an intimate look at how South Africa's erstwhile elite is adapting to its new circumstances. Team South Africa has been through many a maul and bruising scrum, but is inching closer and closer to the tryline.

This inside story of the Lions in South Africa will preserve the memories of the millions of fans who follow the tour in the press, on Sky and at the games themselves. A Lions tour is the pinnacle in the career of any rugby player from the four Home Unions. It is also increasingly a highlight in the life of the vast number of travelling supporters and indeed of any rugby follower. The "Complete Book of the Lions Tour to South Africa 2009" will be an enduring record of what is bound to be an outstanding, sometimes controversial and always absorbing six weeks of rugby history, from the first match on 30th May to the third, and final, Test against the Springboks on 4th July. "The Complete Book of the Lions Tour to South Africa 2009" will recall every aspect of the tour from selection and preparation, through the early bruising encounters in the warm-up games, the high points and the low, the constant battle against injuries, the mind games and the man management, the individual successes and disappointments, gruelling training sessions and lighter moments off the field but most of all the Test series itself. The BBC's voice of rugby Ian Robertson masterminds the book as its editor and will provide comments and interviews with all the key figures on both sides. Mick Cleary's perceptive writing will throw much light on the atmosphere within the South African and Lions camps throughout the tour, examining tactics, game plans in practice on the field, individual players within the squads, including Ronan O'Gara, Brian O'Driscoll and Phil Vickery, and the leadership of Lions captain Paul O'Connell.

"Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain" is the follow-up volume to the award-winning Rugby's Great Split. Following on from that work, the book offers a social and cultural history of rugby league in the twentieth century, from World War One to the 'Super League' controversy of 1995.
Based on extensive archival research, it situates the sport in the changing culture of the north of England. It seeks to examine the cultural, social and economic basis of the sport amidst the changes to the industrial and social landscape of the north in the twentieth century. Central to this is the book's discussion of the nature of Northern English identity. In addition, it also looks at rugby league's relationship with the British empire (via its links with Australia and New Zealand), its war with rugby union (using the previously unopened archives of the Rugby Football Union) and the centrality of working-class masculinity to northern culture.
Like its predecessor, the book will appeal to sports historians and sociologists, historians interested in regional, cultural and gender history, graduate and undergraduate history, sociology and sports studies students, and followers of rugby league, and sport in general.

One of the best lock forwards in the history of English and Lions' game, and a successful captain to boot. Bill Beaumont's popularity on the field and his appearances on A Question of Sport have made him a household name. This is the light-hearted and amusing life story of a larger-than-life character. A serious head injury forced Bill Beaumont to retire from rugby prematurely at the age of 29, after leading his country 21 times in 34 appearances - including a memorable Grand Slam in 1980 - and captaining the Lions to South Africa in 1980. Since then he has been honoured with an OBE and turned effortlessly to a career in broadcasting as a BBC and Sky Sports summariser and, more famously, as captain on the sports quiz show A Question of Sport. He is also a brilliant after-dinner speaker, and recently became chairman of the RFU's National Playing Committee. Beaumont reflects back on a wonderful career, reliving the dramatic events on the field as well as the off-the-field scrapes and humorous escapades that characterised the game in its amateur era. And now as an elder statesman, he is perfectly positioned to talk knowledgeably about the game he so loves, and will comment on the 2003 Rugby World Cup and England's performance in particular.

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. Now fully updated with England's first year as World Champions. 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 life. (Dawson: 'The drinking started on Saturday night, continued all Sunday and most nights until Thursday.') Despite the frequent visits to the operating theatre and the physio's table, hard graft for his club Northampton eventually heralded international recognition. Dawson talks about the influential, and occasional obstructive figures in his blossoming career: the likes of John Olver, Will Carling, Ian McGeechan and, more recently, Wayne Shelford, Kyran Bracken and Clive Woodward. In typically opinionated mode, he also reflects on the successes and failures of the England team and, famously, the Lions in Australia in 2001. After speaking out against punishing schedules, disenchanted players and lack of management support in a tour diary article, Dawson was almost sent home in disgrace. He revisits that bitterly disappointing period in his life and is still not afraid to point out where everything went wrong. Following England's Rugby World Cup 2003 success, Dawson provides a first-hand account of all the dressing room drama - including a troubled Jonny Wilkinson - and the memorable final itself, followed by the stunning reaction to this historic win back home. And in a new updated chapter for this paperback edition, he reveals how the World Champions have overcome the retirement of key players, reviews the 2004 Six Nations, and looks at his own future in the game.

The Detainees’ Parents Support Committee (DPSC) was started in 1981 in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was set up by the parents, spouses and families of activists who were detained and had no recourse to legal intervention. Many in this movement had not been politically involved.

Members of the DPSC stood on street corners with placards calling for the release of their children. They organised food, clothing and legal representation for detainees across the country, and they supported the detainees’ families. DPSC activists marched, petitioned, argued, wrote and protested for the release of all detainees. They made public the brutal operations of the security establishment.

The DPSC helped to draw international attention to the atrocities being perpetuated against children – some as young as nine – by the apartheid state. And the evidence amassed by the DPSC helped to lay some of the groundwork for South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The Knock On The Door tells the story of the DPSC and of how the anti-detention movement became part of the mass uprising that brought down apartheid. It is an inspiring account of ordinary people coming together to stand up against racism and the abuse of power.

Shortlisted for Rugby Book of the Year at the British Sports Book Awards 'An excellent read' - Rugby World Rob Andrew is one of the key figures in modern rugby history: an outstanding international who won three Grand Slams with England and toured twice with the British and Irish Lions, he also played a central role in the game's professional revolution with his trailblazing work at Newcastle. During a long spell on Tyneside, he led the team to a Premiership title at the first opportunity, brought European action to the north-east and gave the young Jonny Wilkinson his break in big-time union by fast-tracking him into the side straight out of school. What happened off the field was equally eventful. Rob produced 'The Andrew Report' - the most radical of blueprints for the future of English rugby - and then, over the course of a decade as one of Twickenham's top administrators, found himself grappling with the extreme challenges of running a game repeatedly blown off course by the winds of change. He did not merely have a ringside seat as one of the world's major sports went through its greatest upheaval in a century: more often than not, he was in the ring itself.

Dublin 4, probably best-known in sporting terms as the spiritual home of Leinster Rugby, has one of the highest densities of diverse sports clubs in all of Ireland. In this new work from Kurt Kullmann, a founding member of the Donnybrook, Ballsbridge and Sandymount Historical Society, the author explores the history of these clubs, creating a picture of the kaleidoscopic nature of Dublin's sporting culture.

The Rugby World Cup has only been in existence since 1987, yet already it is established as the sport's premier competition - six weeks of frenzied action which entrances all the rugby-playing nations. The tournament has thrown up countless memorable matches, introduced us to amazing players and witnessed some incredible scores - from Michael Jones scoring the first World Cup try to the legendary All Blacks regaining the trophy in a titanic struggle with France 24 years later. In between we have witnessed two triumphs each for Australia and South Africa, and of course England's sole victory for a Northern Hemisphere side. To date. Relive France's spectacular wins over Australia and New Zealand; Argentina's repeated upsetting of the world order; last-minute drop goals by Joel Stransky and Jonny Wilkinson, and the sheer exuberance of the Pacific Islanders - in a Rugby World Cup history which will appeal to fans of every nation.

The Iron Curtain tells the story of rugby pioneer Phil Larder, the first coach to break through the hidden wall between rugby league and union. The journey starts with Phil's upbringing as a player, takes in the 80s rugby league revolution he sparked as national coaching director, and his jump across the barricades to rugby union in 1997. The authors examine how rugby league ideas revolutionised the concept of defence in union and changed the face of the game forever, and discuss the scientific 'quantum leaps' in analysis and conditioning under Sir Clive Woodward that led to triumph in 2003. In a book that will appeal to rugby lovers of both codes, Phil reveals the sources of his coaching inspiration, the players he loved working with and the secrets of his defensive innovation, giving his frank views on the English Premiership and the two Lions tours in which he was involved.

Today's rugby players are bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. A focused conditioning programme has become essential to on-field success. Complete Conditioning for Rugby features a comprehensive training approach that builds players' physical abilities as well as the rugby-specific skills their positions require. Renowned conditioning coach and former professional player Paul Pook provides exercises, drills and programmes designed to improve the essential elements of the sport-strength, power, quickness and agility. His programmes will help you with these skills: * Increase strength and power to win those all-important collisions. * Improve your quickness and agility to be as elusive as the world's best. * Develop your core stability and mobility in order to remain injury free. * Customise your workouts to meet the demands of the position you play. In addition, the approximately 50-minute DVD takes you into the gym to demonstrate the same exercises and drills used by the game's best. With physical assessments, nutrition advice and seasonal workouts, Complete Conditioning for Rugby will take your game to the next level.

SHORTLISTED FOR RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 'When I came into the Ulster team,' Stephen Ferris says with typical candour, 'we were crap'. It was, however, preferable to his day job of paving driveways, and that day in 2005 saw the start of an incredible journey for Ferris, Ulster and Ireland rugby. A Celtic League title in his very first senior season with Ulster. A Grand Slam in 2009, followed by a sensational Lions breakthrough. A starring role in Ireland's greatest World Cup win, over Australia in 2011, when Ferris famously picked up Will Genia and carried him ten yards. And leading Ulster from nowhere to the Heineken Cup final. Stephen Ferris had an incredible rugby career, tragically ended by ankle injuries so severe they will never properly heal. He is an inspiration to the population of Ulster, an emblem of the sport that serves as such a positive expression of its culture and identity, and earned the respect and admiration of fans across Ireland for his strength, pace, skill and courage. Fearless, funny and full of an incredible array of stories from behind the scenes of Ulster, Ireland and the Lions, this is the must-have rugby book of the year.

Never before in the UK has a Rugby League man of Malcolm Reilly's legendary status issued such a full and revealling autobiography. Reilly has been a household name in Rugby League for over 30 years -three decades in which he strode like a colossus over the world of this toughest of team sports. He was a champion player, and a champion coach, in both England and Australia - and Reilly reveals one man's personal story behind many of Rugby League's most famous, and infamous, days of the last 30 years, told just as he played his football - with no holds barred. Malcolm Reilly developed a reputation as the most feared player in the game at a time when Rugby League was at its most brutal during the 60's and 70's. His book recalls that club career at home with highly controversial Lions tour in which he starred the last time a British team won the coveted Ashes. Rupert Murdoch's million dollar war to take control of the game, with Malcolm Reilly bang in the middle of it He also describes the fairytale triumph with his Newcastle team in Australia in 1997 followed by the drugs storm that broke around them less than a year later. Reilly has been adapted in this UK version with Harry Edgar, one of the most experienced writers on international affairs in the world of rugby.

The story of the Springboks 2019 Rugby World Cup victory is one of the most inspiring in South African sporting history.

It is about how two men – coach Rassie Erasmus and captain Siya Kolisi – led a team of warriors into battle and conquered the world when inequality and division are still undeniable realities in South African society. When the Boks won the 2007 World Cup final, they did so with 20 white players in their match-day squad of 22.

In 2019, there were five black Africans in their starting line-up for the Yokohama final and the images of Kolisi lifting the Webb Ellis Cup will be replayed forever.

None of this seemed possible just two years ago when the Boks had reached an all-time low. They had slipped to No 7 in the world and had lost the faith of the rugby-loving public. Erasmus came in with just 18 months to prepare for the competition.

Sports writer Lloyd Burnard takes the reader on a thrilling journey from the time when no-one gave the Boks a chance of winning, to the delirious victory tour. He covers the key roles played by Erasmus and Kolisi, and their special relationship. There are ups and downs en route to victory: the first signs of self-belief when they beat the All Blacks in Wellington, Kolisi’s injury, the fall of Aphiwe Dyantyi when he was caught with banned substances in his system, and the Langebaan incident involving Eben Etzebeth that threatened to derail the team.