The phenomenal international number one bestseller with exclusive interviews with Richie McCaw, Steve Hansen, Beauden Barrett and Dan Carter, The Jersey is the definitive story behind the greatest sports team on the planet.

With a better winning record than any other sports team in history, they stand head and shoulders above their nearest rugby rivals. How did a country of just 4.8 million people conquer the world?

Peter Bills, who has reported on international rugby for more than forty years, was given exclusive access to all the key figures in New Zealand rugby as he set out to understand the secrets behind the All Blacks success. Peter talked at length with ninety people, both in New Zealand and around the world, with intimate knowledge of what makes the All Blacks tick.

The Jersey goes to the heart of the All Blacks success. It is also an epic story of not just a rugby team but a nation, whose identities are inextricably linked.

'People think they know him but unless you read this book you will never know the REAL Alun Wyn Jones' - Warren Gatland 'One of the greatest, and seemingly indestructible, players in history' - A Daily Mail Book of the Year Belonging is the story about how the boy from Mumbles became the most capped rugby union player of all time. It is the story of what it takes to become a man who is seen by many as one of the greatest ever Welsh players. What it takes to go from sitting cross-legged on the hall floor at school watching the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa, to being named the 2021 Lions captain. But is it also about perthyn - belonging: playing for Wales, working his way through the age grades and club rugby and his regional side. How to earn the right to be there, and what it feels like to make the sacrifices along the way. Feeling the connection to players who have come before, and feeling the ties to the millions in front rooms and pubs across the country, coast to coast. Knowing that deep down you want to belong, as everyone does. From playing on the rain-swept pitches of Swansea to making his test debut against Argentina in Patagonia in 2006; from touring with the Lions in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 to dealing with loss and creating a family - Belonging is the autobiography of one of the most compelling figures in world rugby. Told with characteristic honesty, this is his unique personal story of what it takes and what it means to play for your country: what it means to belong.

Originally published in 1938, this is book is a comprehensive manual of rugby technique and tactics. Well illustrated throughout with photographs and diagrams, this still contains much of practical use to the modern reader. Contents Include: Individual Practice - Dribbling - Tackling - Kicking - Passing - Body-Swing and Running with the Ball - Combined Practice - The Forwards - The Tight Scrum - The Loose Scrum - The Line Out - Forwards in Defence - Forwards in Attack - The Backs - The Scrum-Half - The Stand-off Half - The Three-quarters, The Centres - The Three-quarters, The Wings - The Full-back - Combined Attack - Combined Defence - Miscellaneous - Clothing, Training, etc - Refeering and Touch-judging - Learning From Example

Featuring the thoughts of more than 180 players who have represented Scotland since the very first Test match in 1871 all the way through to the present day, Behind the Thistle gives a unique insight into the drama and emotion of playing for Scotland in that most rarefied of environments - Test match rugby. In this exhaustively research tome, David Barnes and Peter Burns provide inside access to more than 150 years of private moments in the changing room, on tour, on the training ground, during the tumultuous heat of battle itself, and lift the lid on numerous post-match antics. This is the story of what it is really like to play for Scotland, revealing the sacrifices and joys experienced by those who have shed blood, sweat and tears in pursuit of glory in the navy blue jersey.

Jean-Pierre Rives epitomised the French rugby tradition of flair coupled with guts and glory. He captained the team a record 34 times, gaining 59 caps in all, the first against England in 1975. He led France to the Grand Slam in 1981 and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. After retiring, this most charismatic of flankers - his long blond hair stood out as he led by example, turned to sculpture and painting, hence the title of this book. He exhibits regularly at prominent public venues all over the world and was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit by the government of France. He divides his time between the South of France and California. Before French rugby writer Richard Escot's persistence paid off and Rives told him, 'OK, come down to the atelier and we'll see what happens,' little was known about the former player - beyond, that is, what Jean-Pierre considers to be an extravagant reputation. Previously he had guarded his silence; now, in a series of eight conversations, Rives reveals himself to be a natural talker, prepared to provide an insight both into his unique character and what it is like to play rugby at the highest level.

Rugby Union as a sport has seen continual evolution over the years, and never more so than since the game officially became professional in 1995. While on the pitch tactics have seen more formalized approaches to skill acquisition, it is off the pitch where the biggest changes have occurred and no area has developed more than strength and conditioning. Players have gone from traditionally training for 'fitness' as an add-on to their rugby training to seeking out structured athletic training interventions. Furthermore, with modern rugby players being physically bigger and faster, the need to ensure that they are more robust and free from injury has led to the demand for a more scientific approach to the prescription of strength and conditioning. In Strength and Conditioning for Rugby Union, ex-international player Joel Brannigan presents the underpinning science of strength and conditioning in rugby. Using the fundamental principles of training, he details a structure of assessing rugby players that in turn will allow appropriate training inverventions to be planned out and, most importantly, coached to a wide range of rugby playing levels.

Praise for Eddie Jones 'A genuine super-coach' - The Sunday Times 'His gifts of leadership and organisation are remarkable' - The Daily Mail Eddie Jones is one of the most successful sports coaches of all time. From coaching three different nations to Rugby World Cup finals and enjoying a winning record with England of nearly 80 per cent, he knows what's needed to lead and manage high performance teams. For the first time, Eddie reveals what it takes to operate in high pressure environments, the successes and setbacks, and how these lessons can be applied to every walk of life, from coaching a children's sports team to leading a multinational organization to simply doing your job better. Forthright and unflinchingly honest, Eddie Jones reveals what he has learnt from Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola, as well as from the founder of Uniqlo and Ron Adams of the NBA. Drawing on stories from nearly thirty years of coaching, Eddie explains how you need humour, humility and relentless curiosity to lead an eclectic mix of superstars - from Maro Itoje to James Haskell, George Smith to Kyle Sinckler - and create teams that are relentlessly hungry to win. Leadership is the ultimate rugby book about what it takes to be the best. Written with Donald McRae, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Leadership is the book for anyone who wants to learn how to build and lead a team to success.

Cheslin roared with happiness as the final whistle blew in Yokohama. They were champions! Later, as his captain lifted the 2019 Rugby World Cup trophy into the air, he felt prouder than he'd ever been before - of himself, his team and his country.

Cheslin Kolbe tells the story of a kid from Kraaifontein, Cape Town, whose talent took him to international sports stardom, first to Toulouse, France, and eventually to the call-up that would change his life forever: to play for the Springbok 2019 World Cup squad. It's the heartwarming story of a small player with a big heart whose signature sidestep helped the Springboks win the World Cup trophy for South Africa.

Cheslin Kolbe is part of the "Road to Glory" series, which covers some of South Africa's sporting legends as they set out on their journeys to becoming national and international stars.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 - RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEAR This is a complete history of the Welsh rugby union team - told by the players themselves. Based on a combination of painstaking research into the early years of the Wales team to interviews with a vast array of Test match players and coaches from the Second World War to the present day, Ross Harries delves to the very heart of what it means to play for Wales, painting a unique and utterly compelling picture of the game in the only words that can truly do so: the players' own. Behind the Dragon lifts the lid on what it is to pull on the famous red shirt - the trials and tribulations behind the scenes, the glory, the drama and the honour on the field, and the heart-warming tales of friendship and humour off it. Absorbing and illuminating, this is the ultimate history of Welsh rugby - told, definitively, by the men who have been there and done it.

'A rollicking read and a mighty achievement' - Donald McRae, The Guardian 'Magnificent' - Owen Slot, The Times The 1997 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa is one of the most iconic in rugby history. Written off at home and abroad, Martin Johnson's men were given no hope of success against the world champion Springboks in their own backyard. But a combination of brilliant coaching, astute selections and outstanding players laid the foundations for the touring side's outstanding attacking mindset and brutal stonewall defence. On the other side was a team expected to stamp their authority on the tourists and confirm their place as the best side on the planet. But with political, racial and economic scandals swirling around the Springbok camp, plus a rookie coach parachuted into office just before the tour began, the hosts were under huge pressure. In a Test series that will go down in legend as one of the most compelling of all time, the sides could barely be separated. This is the inside story from both camps as they battle for supremacy, lifting the lid like never before as a huge cast of characters look back on those extraordinary weeks and the impact it had on their lives and careers thereafter. Hilarious, insightful and spine-chilling, Tom English and Peter Burns provide the perfect read for all Lions fans.

What does it take to become one of the most successful coaches in the world? Eddie Jones is one of the most successful sports coaches of all time. From coaching three different nations to Rugby World Cup Finals and with a winning record with England of nearly 80%, Eddie Jones knows what it takes to lead and manage high performance teams. What can sport teach us about leadership? For the first time, Eddie Jones shows just what it takes to be a leader in a high performance and high pressure environment and how these lessons can be applied to every walk of life, from coaching the U9 rugby team to leading a multinational organization to simply doing your job better. Have a voracious ambition to improve every day As he explains the High Performance Cycle of Success at the heart of his philosophy, Eddie Jones reveals the lessons he has learnt from Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola as well as from the founder of Uniqlo and Ron Adams from the NBA. He also gives a detailed analysis of his own performance as a coach as well as how he gets the best out of the players and coaches around him and what he saw in Tom Curry that no one else saw, which makes him think that he could be the next Richie McCaw. Always start with the end in mind Drawing on stories of nearly thirty years of coaching, including the 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2019 World Rugby campaigns, the full story of England's 2021 Six Nations campaign as well as why it takes humour, humility and relentless curiosity to lead an eclectic mix of superstars from Maro Itoje to James Haskell, George Smith to Kyle Sinckler, to create teams that are relentlessly hungry to win, Leadership is the ultimate rugby book about what it takes to be the best. Written with Donald McRae, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Leadership is the book for anyone who wants to learn how to build and lead a team to success.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder meets I May Destroy You, this dark YA thriller will have your heart in your mouth from the very first page! "Gina Blaxill weaves together a dark and engrossing tale that will grip readers from start to finish." Ann Sei Lin, author of Rebel Skies. "Brilliantly twisty and intense!" Kat Ellis, author of Wicked Little Deeds. "It asks us to look at ourselves. You won't be able to put it down until the tense final pages let you go." Bryony Pearce, author of Little Rumours. Tragedy hits a teenage New Year's party . . . When Alana's best friend is found drowned in a pool, the forensic reports discover date-rape drug GHB in her blood. GHB from a drink Alana knows was meant for her. Despite the swirling rumours, the suspected group of boys seem untouchable. To investigate, Alana allows herself to be pulled into their glittering orbit. But among shifting alliances, changing alibis and buried secrets, can she pinpoint which of the boys is responsible before she becomes their next target? Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson, Karen McManus and Chelsea Pitcher. From the Carnegie nominated author, Gina Blaxill. A bold feminist read with a pacy thriller plot that YA fans will love. Carnegie-nominated author Gina Blaxill looks head on at privilege, bias and sexual assault in a way that will resonate with Young Adults today. Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson, Karen McManus and Chelsea Pitcher.

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 in 2017 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.

Is there always someone else to blame for your failures? Afraid of putting the real work in to achieve your goals? Are you sick of just being average and do you want to start winning? It's time to drown out self-doubt and the distracting noise of everyday life, to conquer your fears and approach challenges without caution. One of rugby's most ferocious flankers and successful players, James Haskell has always strived to be at the very top of his game. To achieve a global rugby career, he knew he had to keep his body strong. To go on to found an award-winning production company and become a successful DJ and bestselling author, he knew he had to keep his mind even stronger. Revolutionary and revealing, Approach With(out) Caution presents James Haskell as you've never known him. James takes the lessons he's learned, both on and off the pitch, and turns them into a five-pillar plan to help you take control of your life.

Behind the Silver Fern is a comprehensive history of rugby's most famous yet enigmatic team, the New Zealand All Blacks, told by the men who have had the honour of wearing the iconic black jersey. From the legendary 1905 'Originals' all the way through to the World Cup team of 2019, this unique history of the All Blacks lifts the lid on their experiences like never before. Thanks to exhaustive archival research and exclusive new material garnered from a vast array of interviews with players and coaches from across the decades, Tony Johnson and Lynn McConnell unveil the compelling truth of what it means to play for the most successful team in the history of sport - all the glory and the drama on the field, the great friendships off it, and the bonds of a brotherhood that extend far beyond the bright lights of a Test match. Absorbing and illuminating, this is the ultimate history of All Black rugby - told, definitively, by the men who have been there and done it.

Former Australian rugby union legend and World Cup winner, now acclaimed television sports pundit, on his glittering career in the game - and how close he came to losing his life. Few players in the history of the game have had as illustrious a career as Wallaby fly-half and captain Michael Lynagh. In an era when Australia took the rugby world by storm with their glittering array of mercurial talent, in chief orchestrator and courageous captain Lynagh they had a pivotal figure at fly-half who shaped their style of play and at the same time played a major ambassadorial role in the world game. Yet fast forward to that April day in 2012, as Lynagh lay partially blinded in intensive care at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, his life hanging by a thread following a major stroke, his wife and three young boys on the other side of the world. The day that defined the rest of his life. Lynagh's story is one of corruscating highs and crippling lows. It's the personal tale of a sportsman playing to the extremes of his profession, but also a human tale of surviving debilitating trauma and finding a new meaning to life.

World in their Hands recounts the remarkable events that led to a group of friends from south-west London staging the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991. The tournament was held just 13 years after teams from University College London and King's contested a match that catalysed the growth of the women's game in the UK, and the organisers overcame myriad obstacles before, during and after the World Cup. Those challenges, which included ingrained misogyny, motherhood, a recession, the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, provide a fitting framing device for a book that celebrates female achievement in the face of adversity. Although ostensibly a story about women's rugby, this is a tale that has rare crossover appeal. It is not only the account of a group of inspirational women who took on the institutional misogyny that existed in rugby clubs across the globe to put on a first ever Women's Rugby World Cup. It is also the compelling and relatable tale of how those women, their peers and others in the generations before them, reshaped the idea of what it means to be a woman, finding acceptance and friendship on boggy rugby pitches. At the time, with the men's game tying itself up in knots about professionalism and apartheid, these women were a breath of fresh air. Three decades on, their achievements deserve to be highlighted to a wider audience.

In 1995 rugby union finally became a professional sport following more than a century as an amateur game. This book offers a critical analysis of the sport in the professional era and assesses the relationship between the local and the global in contemporary rugby union.

A hilarious and, at times, moving and soul-searching account of rugby union's rollercoaster days in the 1990s, told through the eyes of a player who saw it all as the sport lurched shambolically from the crazy final days of amateurism into the professional era. Martin Bayfield has a story to tell. Indeed, some might describe it as a very tall story. Standing at 6ft 10ins, the former England and British and Irish Lions second row remains one of the tallest players ever to have played international rugby, and his immense physical stature made him one of the most destructive forwards in the world game. He played for England during one of the most successful eras in English rugby, winning two Grand Slams alongside legendary players such as Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Brian Moore and Rory Underwood. His international heyday came at a seminal moment for rugby union when, almost overnight, it was transformed from a noble minority sport to a celebrity event, with stories appearing on the front pages of the British tabloids. Now Bayfield is ready to reveal the inside story of that rip-roaring decade that changed forever the face of English rugby. The book provides an emotional link between the generations, so that today's fans can reconnect with rugby's soul. Renowned as one of rugby's best and most entertaining storytellers, the former policeman and Hagrid's body double has written a brilliant and very funny love letter to a sport that continues to inspire and entertain millions.

This is the first book to introduce key themes in the study of women's rugby from multi-disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, gender studies, sport development and sport science. Featuring contributions from leading researchers and former international players from across Canada, England, France, New Zealand and the USA, the book opens with a global history of women's rugby, locating the game in the wider context of the development of women's sport and exploring important social issues such as race, gender and violence. The book then looks at training and performance analysis at pitch level, helping the reader get a sense of the game from the ground up, before focusing on women's rugby through the eyes of others (such as rugby coaches), women's experiences of rugby's culture and promotional culture. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in women's sport, rugby, sport and social issues, sport development, or sport history.