Rugby Books you have enjoyed reading

Nika Bolokov · 18-01-2020 10:39pm #1

Thought it might be interesting to spread the good word on any good rugby books you have read.

I found Paul O'Connells biography excellent Heaslips pretty good and Rala's was gas.

Also found the Irish Rugby Quiz Book a bit of a craic.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what I might read next ?

Cheers !!

Dog Botherer · 18-01-2020 10:52pm

have been enjoying The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby by Tony Collins. very informative and well researched.

Nika Bolokov · 18-01-2020 10:56pm

Dog Botherer wrote: »

have been enjoying The Oval World: A Global History of Rugby by Tony Collins. very informative and well researched.

Sounds like just the thing I'm looking for . Cheers !

daphil · 19-01-2020 4:31am

Heroics & Heart Break By Jamie Wall

(12 Months, including the world cup, with the All Blacks).
Although mainly about the All Blacks, it gives an insight in rugby just below the top tier.
In NZ at the moment and this book is a bit of an eye opener, all is not well.

Mysterypunter · 19-01-2020 5:11am

Read Trevor Brennan's book years ago, was very good, but can't remember much about it, except he was playing in France and running a pub. He was in the news around the time for chinning an Ulster fan.

moby2101 · 19-01-2020 10:53am

Johnny Wilkinson's book is a really good read. RoG'sbook is ok. I thought Paulies book was awful

jacothelad · 19-01-2020 11:06am

Tales From The Back Of The Bus...A collection of memories of Lions tours by the players. (edited by Stuart McKinney ) Very good read and the proc3eds went to rugby charity.

Nika Bolokov · 20-01-2020 2:53pm

Any good South African ones does anyone know ?

Squidgy Black · 20-01-2020 6:38pm

Sevens heaven by Ben Ryan on the story of Fiji at the Olympics was a great read. The whole backstory behind that Fijian team is just mind-blowing

Digifriendly · 20-01-2020 7:01pm

Pity the World Rugby Yearbook stopped after 2016. There were a number of different publishers dating right back to 1972 afaik when Rothmans first published it. Great reference book for statistics and I do miss it.

Boscoirl · 20-01-2020 7:48pm

Ian McGeechans is the only one I have enjoyed. I find players books extremely boring.

The life of a professional rugby player is not that exciting.

Nika Bolokov · 21-01-2020 9:30pm

Never thought of reading coaches books will give his a look.

RuPi · 22-01-2020 9:12am

Nika Bolokov wrote: »

Any good South African ones does anyone know ?

Joost VD Westheuisins was very good and open and honest, John Smit's also, I got them when I was in SA though so not sure how easy to get.

Would echo the tales from the back of the bus - excellent read with some brilliant stories - the follow up wasn't quite so good.

A lot of the modern players books are very samey with very few divulging much to capture the imagination. I found the book written about Lancaster - 'The house that Lancaster built'? and the World Cup interesting but most of those stories have now been told in newspaper articles since he went to Leinster.

Engage by Matt Hampson was a good read.

Haven't got round to reading the Doddie Weir books but I imagine they would have a few good stories.

Nika Bolokov · 23-01-2020 8:12pm

Yeah the Doddie Weir books would definitly be worth a read

shotgunmcos · 24-01-2020 4:34pm

Jonah Lomu's Auto Bio (RIP Big Man)

AirGuitarist · 24-01-2020 7:17pm

No Borders by Tom English is worth a read if you're into the politics around Irish Rugby

11-07-2022 9:43am

Stuck at home with Covid, so getting around to reading some rugby books I'd received as gifts but hadn't opened.

I would echo what a previous poster said, thought No Borders by Tom English was an interesting read. I also found Pat McCarry's book, The New Breed (on Irish rugby in the pro era) relatively interesting.

I've read of player and some coach autobiographies and generally find them quite poor and lacking any real insight. Found O'Connell, O'Driscoll and O'Gara's books all kind of boring; felt they all obviously kept a lot back. Trevor Brennan's was a good read. Haven't had a chance to read Keith Earls' yet but have heard good things.

The one I picked up this weekend as I'd been ignoring it is Warren Gatland's book, In the Line of Fire. It's not really autobiographical to a great degree, focuses mostly on the Lions tour in 2017, but some interesting nuggets in it so far.

After this my next one to read will be Tom English & Peter Burns' book This is Your Everest, on the '97 Lions tour to SA.

arsebiscuits1 · 11-07-2022 10:53am

It's an extremely easy read but I really liked Ralas book.

All players books tended to gravitate to a type of narrative and I feel its just because of how they operate. Even the good ones are quite linear.

Ralas book is a bit different and full of very interesting stories and anecdotes. Given his career as bagman spanned a lot longer than any rugby players career there is a bigger window for stories too.

StevenToast · 11-07-2022 10:56am

I read Mick Galweys book once.....absolute muck...

Put me off Rugby books forever...

sprucemoose · 11-07-2022 4:33pm

No Helmets Required is very interesting if a bit long, its about the 'american' team that travelled to australia in the 50s to play rugby league despite having no knowledge of the game. seems crazy now but the guy in charge of the tour basically bluffed his way in organising it and claimed league was big in the states

Jump_In_Jack · 13-07-2022 8:27am

The Keith Earls book was very good I thought, probably because he revealed a lot of detail about his struggles with education, depression and injury.

It also explained a lot about his speed, which I found illuminating, and his understanding with coaches, Schmidt, Farrell and all the Munster coaches over the years.

A lot of that was not publicised beforehand and would not have been widely known. I truly get the feeling the book is about getting a lot of stuff off his chest in the hope it helps him and also people that may struggle themselves to take inspiration from his story.

He is a fascinating guy, down to earth, family man, shies away from the limelight, basically someone who after reading the book I had an urge to want to meet him for a coffee!

Losty Dublin · 16-07-2022 10:13am

Engage; the Matt Hampston story by Paul Kimmage is easily the best rugby book I've read. You'll pick it up handily enough for a few € but it is worth every penny.

16-07-2022 11:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119345075#Comment_119345075

Yeah, read this years ago, it's a great read. Inspirational guy.

JPR Williams' autobiography a fascinating read as well. Fascinating life in addition to an incredible rugby career.

22-07-2022 1:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119320576#Comment_119320576

Just finished the book I mentioned at the end of the above comment, Tom English and Peter Burns' work called This is Your Everest, the story of the Lions tour to South Africa in 1997.

One of the absolute best rugby books I've ever read.

I generally find some of the books of tours from the amateur era fascinating, but this has big tinges of that given rugby had just gone professional, in addition to having incredibly interesting passages on the environment in South Africa at the time, the politics in their rugby etc.

I would highly recommend.

RichieRich_89 · 22-07-2022 3:04pm

The only ones I can think of are Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules: The New Zealand Way by Tony Williams and Gordon Hunter and that O'Driscoll book from '05/'06 A Year in the Centre. Definitely not BOD's autobiography. The only thing that would be good for would be lighting a fire or something. Can't believe I wasted so much time actually finishing reading it.

21-03-2023 9:54am

Just finished Ian McKinley's book, Second Sight, which was written along with Gerry Thornley. One of the most interesting autobiographies I've read from a player in quite some time.

supernova5 · 23-03-2023 3:48pm

Willie Anderson's Crossing the Line is very good

Rugby Books you have enjoyed reading

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