Dimensions
235 x 290 x 19mm
celebration of the recent history of Rugby Union.
A stunning celebration of the recent history of Rugby Union featuring interviews with the game's greatest names.
When William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a game of football at Rugby School in 1823, little could he, or any of the bemused onlookers, have known that his actions would spawn a game that, over 180 years later, has created a rich and varied tradition in many countries around the world.
Since World War II, the sport has burgeoned into a multi-million dollar business and become one of the world's most closely followed sports. Rucking and Rolling follows rugby union from the end of World War II and catalogues the rise of the game, from the great England teams of the 1950s, the legendary Welsh sides of the 1960s and 70s, the French teams of the 1980s and 90s, the sudden successes of Scotland and Ireland, the growth of Australian rugby and the traditional power-houses of New Zealand and South Africa.
Decade by decade, Rucking and Rolling shows how interest spread from the eight major nations, into mainland Europe, across the Atlantic to the Americas, and across the Indian Ocean to the Polynesian islands and south Asia, culminating with the World Cup, played for the William Ellis Trophy.
