Rugby

Drawing on the collective knowledge of experienced players and coaches, this book prepares rugby players to withstand the rigours of the sport. It helps identify strengths and weaknesses and goes on to game strategy and improving the team's mental focus.

R is for Rugby: An Alphabet Book takes readers on a learning adventure through the alphabet to explore this incredible game. Each letter offers an opportunity to discover positions, tactics, and terminology that will make even non-ruggers want to lace up their boots With more than 2.3 million players in over 100 countries across six continents, rugby is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is also the fastest growing team sport for children ages six through twelve in the United States according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Its variant, rugby 7s, is set to make its eagerly awaited debut at the 2016 Olympic Games. R is for Rugby: An Alphabet Book is written by three-time Rugby World Cup veteran and USA National Team player Mike Petri. Mike has over 50 test caps for the USA and has featured for the Newport Gwent Dragons as well as the invitational, prestigious Barbarians squad. Outside of his competitive rugby, he is a high school math and science teacher as well as a varsity rugby coach at Xavier High School in New York City.

The modern game of rugby football has become gladiatorial, whereby muscular athletic players are involved in a form of collision chess with sophisticated defences smothering the offensive skills that were at one time a more dominant feature of the game. The contributors to this book consider the physical, mental and nutritional demands of the game in its present form and how best to acquire these attributes in the most effective and efficient manner. The inevitable injuries that are associated with collision are considered in terms of prevention and the most effective forms of treatment. New concepts to improve exercise capacity, game preparation and recovery are discussed in conjunction with the modern coaching theories of the game. The possible changes to the rules are discussed by two outstanding International referees, and the future vision for World Rugby is outlined by the President of World Rugby. The Dynamics of Modern Rugby is both a unique and contemporary addition to the rugby literature and, as such, is essential reading for any student, researcher, coach, sports scientist, physiotherapist, nutritionist or clinician with an interest in rugby.

Now updated–a practical guide to understanding rugby, North American—style Filled with illustrations and photographs of drills and shape-up exercises, Rugby For Dummies tackles North American rugby rules, levels of play, and how to coach junior players as well as adults. This revised edition includes the scoop on the fall 2007 rugby World Cup in France, expanded coverage of women’s rugby, and updated information on North America's best players and teams.

This book explores the expansion of rugby from its imperial and amateur upper-class white male core into other contexts throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The development of rugby in the racially divided communities of the setter empire and how this was viewed are explored initially. Then the editors turn to four case studies of rugby's expansion beyond the bounds of the British Empire (France, Italy, Japan and the USA). The role of women in rugby is examined and the subsequent development of women's rugby as one of the fastest growing sports for women in Europe, North America and Australasia in the 1980s and 1990s. The final section analyses the impact of commercialisation, professionalisation and media on rugby and the impact on the historic rugby culture linked to an ethos of amateurism.

Coaches, practitioners and medical staff working in the worldwide sport of rugby will frequently apply scientific principles to their programmes to inform the practice, performance, health, well-being and development of their athletes. This book explores the scientific principles underpinning the preparation and management of rugby players in both codes and modified versions of the sport. Applied examples are also provided throughout to understand the practical application of the material in a real-world context. This new edition of The Science of Rugby offers a significant contribution to the field of rugby science that will act as a useful resource to scientists, coaches, practitioners and students interested in rugby. New chapters and key topics include: Physical and psychological preparation for rugby Planning and monitoring of training Managing fatigue, recovery and nutrition Effects of different environmental conditions and travel on performance The mechanics of rugby techniques and injury Young players and talent identification Considerations for training the female rugby player Modified rugby, including rugby sevens, touch, tag and wheelchair rugby No other book bridges the gap between theory and applied practice in rugby, from grass roots to elite international standard, and therefore this is essential reading for any student, researcher, sport scientist, coach, physiotherapist or clinician with an interest in the game.

Since it’s first publication, Rugby’s Great Split has established itself as a classic in the field of sport history. Drawing on an unprecedented range of sources, this deeply researched and highly readable book traces the social, cultural and economic divisions that led, in 1895, to schism in the game of rugby and the creation of rugby league, the sport of England’s northern working class. Tony Collins’ analysis challenges many of the conventional assumptions about this key event in rugby history – about class conflict, amateurism in sport, the North-South divide, violence on the pitch, the development of mass spectator sport and the rise of football. This new edition is expanded to cover parallel events in Australia and New Zealand, and to address the key question of rugby league’s failure to establish itself in Wales. Rugby’s Great Split is a benchmark text in the history of rugby, and an absorbing case study of wider issues – issues of class, gender, regional and national identity, and the impact of the commercialization and recent professionalization of rugby league. This insightful text is for anyone interested in Britain’s social history or in the emergence of modern sport, it is vital reading.

Updated edition of the #1 Amazon Bestseller LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020 Sports books tend to detail extraordinary achievements, triumphs against the odds or commemorate World Cup winning captains. This book does not do that. For many, playing professional sport is the Dream Job. Few manage it, very few make it to the top and for the rest, life is very different. This is their story. In Fringes, Ben Mercer invites you to witness life at the outer edges of professional rugby. This is a first hand account of what life is like as a journeyman professional athlete. You play, but to the wider public you don't exist. You earn but you don't drive a flash car. You sometimes pack out a stadium but sometimes, you play in a deserted park. This is the story for the majority of sports professionals. Only the minority taste the top, only one person gets to lift the cup or win the medal, only 15 get to play for England at any one time. For the rest, that’s not the case. Ben Mercer is a former professional rugby player who after becoming disillusioned and uninspired plying his trade in the English Second Division, accepted an offer out of the blue to go to France and do something different - help an amateur team turn professional. This is a first hand account of what life is like in the lower reaches of professional sport - where your employment status is as precarious as your health and barely anyone will know your name. It's about how it feels to live year to year, with teammates constantly on the move. It's about how professionalism irreversibly changes the French club Stade Rouennais as they move up the divisions, about the tension between progress and identity in a rugby team. It's also about how it feels to actually be out there on the field, how it feels to occasionally do something extraordinary and how it feels when this is no longer enough for you to make the sacrifices that you need to make to keep playing. There's no ghostwriting, it's an unmitigated meditation on how it feels and what it means to play rugby for a living, to dedicate yourself to an uncompromising but occasionally beautiful game. If you've wanted to know what life is really like as a professional athlete, on the Fringes, away from the glitz and glamour of the international game then look no further.