THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Hilarious, and straight talking but also articulate and insightful – I am just hugely fond of this guy’ –Eddie Jones ‘James Haskell: what a flanker, what a book’ –Rugby World
'Hilarious, and straight talking but also articulate and insightful - I am just hugely fond of this guy' -Eddie Jones 'I'd like to be remembered as a player who showed that you can be incredibly professional but also a lot of fun - a bit of a joker in the changing room, but the ultimate competitor on the pitch. That should have been the subtitle of this book, really...' One of rugby's most ferocious flankers and biggest characters, James Haskell has had an extraordinary, global experience of the game, having played for the Wasps, Northampton and England, and in New Zealand, France and Japan. After seventeen years and with 77 international caps under his sizeable belt, he has a shitload to say about rugby life - from pitch to pub and everywhere in between. In What A Flanker, Haskell sheds fresh light on the dynamics and the day-to-day of the game. Whether he's recalling the most brutal team socials; dispelling the myths surrounding New Zealand's dominance; introducing his Japanese teammates to manscaping or calling out play-acting in the modern game, no subject is off limits. Side-splittingly funny and ruthlessly honest, What A Flanker delves into the touring, drinking, training, eating and sometimes unconscionable antics of the professional rugby player. It's an unforgettable read, even if there are some stories you'd rather forget...
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Hilarious, and straight talking but also articulate and insightful - I am just hugely fond of this guy' -Eddie Jones 'James Haskell: what a flanker, what a book' -Rugby World
SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH RUGBY BOOK OF THE YEAR The truth about being a rugby player from the horsey's mouth. This book is not just about how a psychiatrist called Humphrey helped me get back on my horse and clippity-clop all the way to the World Cup semi-final in Japan. It's the story of how a fat kid who had to live up to the nickname Psycho grew up to play and party for over a decade with rugby's greatest pros and live weird and wonderful moments both in and out of the scrum. That's why I'm letting you read my diary on my weirdest days. You never know what you're going to get with me. From being locked in a police cell to singing Adele on Jonathan Ross (I'll let you decide which is worse), being kissed by a murderer on the number 51 bus to drug tests where clipboard-wielding men hover inches away from my naked genitalia, melting opponents in rucks, winning tackles, and generally losing blood, sweat and ears in the name of the great sport of rugby. This is how (not) to be a rugby player.
A collection of historical words and definitions that can be grouped into its own unique class as Newfounland English. These words and meanings survive from early settlers from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, and latter immigrants from southern Ireland.
‘A young, naive kid, with a brand-new football. Over time, the leather aged from the bumps along the trail. The Footscray winters and some glorious liniment-scented afternoons. All of the laughs, the scraps, the yarns and characters. The game. It all left a mark on me, on my soul.’ Bob Murphy has never been a typical footballer. Music buff, Age columnist and Winnebago driver, he is as comfortable in a quiet corner of a Fitzroy café or the front bar of a grungy pub as he is in the locker room. Murphy takes the reader inside his 17-year career, including his three years as captain of the Bulldogs, exploring the people, places and events that shaped him: from playing backyard cricket in 1980s Warragul to Community Cup with Paul Kelly in the 2000s, and from the joy of marrying his high-school crush to the agony of a season-ending ACL ruptures. How did the country kid with a gypsy’s heart become an All-Australian captain? What’s it like to have your club win the grand final for the first time in 62 years and have to cheer from the sidelines? How does it feel to realise you can no longer do the things that made you great? The celebrated Australian football bard Martin Flanagan has long insisted Bob Murphy has a book in him like no footballer has written. Leather Soul proves him right.
Winner of the Daily Telegraph Rugby Book of the Year The Sunday Times bestselling rugby book of the year Brilliant, honest, combative – Eddie Jones is a true legend of world rugby and remains an enigmatic figure in the game. In My Life and Rugby he tells his story for the first time, including the full inside account of England’s 2019 World Cup campaign. He describes his experience growing up in a tough working-class area of Sydney, where he first played rugby, and how he learnt from the extreme highs and lows of his own playing career – the numerous successes but also the painful disappointment of never playing for Australia. He tells how he then embarked on a coaching career that has seen him become one of the most experienced and decorated coaches in Rugby Union, spanning four World Cups and three finals. His successes have included masterminding England’s spectacular victory over New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup and engineering the sport’s most stunning upset when Japan beat South Africa in 2015. My Life and Rugby is the story of one of the most compelling and singular figures in rugby. Told with unflinching honesty, this is the ultimate book for all fans of the sport. Written with Donald McRae, twice winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award and three-time Sports Feature Writer of the Year, My Life and Rugby is the story of one of the most compelling and singular figures in rugby. Told with unflinching honesty, this is the ultimate rugby book for all fans of the sport. A Best Book of the Year – Daily Mail, Sunday Times, The Times
The purpose of this book is to provide the player, family, coach and player's support network with the information needed for positional excellence in the position of Blindside flanker (No. 6) in rugby union. The objectives of this book are: 1. To provide the reader with an understanding of the natural physical and mental development of young players in the sport of rugby union. 2. To explain the demands of rugby union and use that information to help guide the player's development. 3. To provide a blueprint for the core conditioning needed to achieve results in the game of rugby union. 4. To provide an insight into what selectors and coaches are looking for at a representative level. 5. To provide FREE access to a professional player development portal www.developaplayer.com whereby the player can record and share their rugby development with friends, family, coaches, sponsors, and selectors.
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 captain world rugby has ever seen. As he prepares to become the first captain to successfully defend the World Cup, McCaw has set the standard of what a professional rugby player should be. Hugely popular and respected, his sheer presence means that he is a natural leader both on and off the pitch and his story is not just a brutal account of life on the front line, but an exhilarating portrait of modern rugby.
Lewis 'Mad Dog' Moody has been a familiar face in English rugby for fifteen successful and, at times, painful years. The former Leicester and now Bath flanker has seen and done it all in a sport that has changed beyond recognition from his first forays into the sport to the huge spectacle that rugby, and especially test match rugby, has become. Known for his near-suicidal fashion of playing the game, Moody has achieved as much as anyone in the history of the sport, from league, cup and European honours with an iconic Leicester Tigers team alongside the likes of Martin Johnson and Neil Back, to a 2003 World Cup winners medal and an MBE when still a young man. A great deal of heartbreak would follow - pain, illness, self-doubt and dark days in the four years before the next World Cup campaign that saw Moody and England fall in the 2007 final but he re-emerged to finally captain his country to a third World Cup campaign in 2011. Mad Dog - An Englishman is the story, warts and all, of one of the most-loved and respected British sporting figures; a story that allows the reader into the inner sanctum of a top rugby star's life, from the early days of student and rugby dressing room mayhem, to the latter years of dedication to the cause, and utter professionalism against all odds. You may think some of Lewis Moody's adventures are well-known. You would be wrong. In this searingly honest autobiography the original 'Mad Dog' lays himself bare and, along the way, takes you on an incredible journey that will make you laugh, cry and understand what it takes to construct a career as successful as Lewis Moody's.