John Kendall-Carpenter was a truly extraordinary man. He captained the England rugby team in the early 1950s, when he was widely regarded as one of the cleverest and most tactically astute players in the world. At the same time he launched out on a career in education which saw him not only hold the headmastership of three well-known public schools but also play a prominent role in the Headmasters’ Conference in its negotiations with the Labour Government in the 1970s to ensure the continued independence of that sector. In addition, the first Rugby World Cup simply would never have happened without him. President of the Rugby Union in 1980, he was then elected as England’s representative on the International Rugby Board where his role was to defend the amateur code which was coming under increasing pressure from professionalism. His conversion to the cause of international rugby and the commercial potential of the Word Cup, with his subsequent passion and energy, was instrumental in getting the first World Cup in 1987 off the ground and also paved the way towards the professional game. He then threw himself into the planning of the next World Cup but sadly died just a year before it started in 1991. John Kendall-Carpenter was remarkable man with many friends – and a few enemies! – not only in sport, but in education, the theatre, among politicians and writers. He is still a legend in Cornwall – his adopted home. This biography will appeal to every dedicated rugby supporter as well as those interested in sport in general and how rugby emerged from the fields of English public schools to the huge commercial sporting event it is today.

Cornwall has long been recognised as being one of the hotbeds of English rugby enjoying a level of interest and support even outstripping that of football. Ten years ago Penzance and Newlyn rebranded itself as the Cornish Pirates and now operates as the only truly professional sports team in the area. Despite its remote location and low population base it has nevertheless recently twice won national knock-out trophies and twice more reached play-off finals of the Rugby Championship - just one tier below the Premier League. Ex-player Steve Tomlin's latest book details the lives and playing careers of forty-six leading players and four senior coaches covering both the amateur and professional eras of the club. It is almost entirely based on a series of detailed interviews with the players themselves - or with their colleagues and families if they are no longer with us. Many of those featured played at international level whilst others remained as heroes in their own backyard. It gives a fascinating and often hilarious insight into the lives, pressures, achievements and disappointments of rugby players of different generations and varying backgrounds.

This is the incredible story of Brian 'Stack' Stevens, born in a remote former mining area of Cornwall with no sporting background, yet found he had an exceptional talent for rugby. When still a teenager, he was playing against established international players but, with Penzance being cut off from the rugby mainstream, he would have very little recognition for a decade. At twenty-eight, following some outstanding county matches for Cornwall, he was at last given an England trial. He won twenty-five full international caps for England over the next six years, including famous wins over the top southern hemisphere teams; he also scored the winning try against the All Blacks in Auckland and represented the British Lions in New Zealand. He was under constant pressure from his father, who needed him at home on the farm, and this prevented him going on a second Lions tour. He temporarily signed for Harlequins to the dismay of his local club Penzance & Newlyn, and had to travel overnight to London for England training and Harlequins matches by hitching a lift on a broccoli lorry to Covent Garden and then back again afterwards. Stack is still very much a favoured son throughout Cornwall, where the locals see him as 'one of their own'. He continued to run the farm after his father died, and became an England selector when he finally stopped playing. In recent years he has suffered from a serious neurological condition but as ever he continues to battle against the odds. This book has been written with the full cooperation of Brian and his family by someone who played with him, and who remains a friend.