Behind the Lions [enhanced edition]: Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions

Stephen Jones · Tom English · Nick Cain · David Barnes

nov 2012 · Birlinn

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This enhanced edition contains match footage highlights from every tour from 1955 to 2009, additional photographs and text, as well as a statistical section and an abridged history of the Lions. This is the history of the British & Irish Lions... in their own words. For 125 years the British & Irish Lions have stood out as a symbol of the ethics, values and romance at the heart of rugby union. To represent the Lions is the pinnacle for every international player in Britain and Ireland, and the dream of tens of thousands of avid fans who follow them. A Lions tour, undertaken every four years to the southern hemisphere, is more than a series of rugby matches played out on foreign fields; it is an epic crusade where the chosen few face a succession of mental and physical challenges on their way to the Test arena, where they do battle with the superpowers of the world game. Behind the Lions sees four esteemed rugby writers from each of the Home Nations delve to the very heart of what it means to be a Lion, using diaries and letters from those who pioneered the concept, to interviews with a vast array of players who have followed in their footsteps. In so doing they have uncovered the passion, pride and honour experienced when taking up the unique challenge of a Lions tour. This is a tale of heart-break and ecstasy, humour and poignancy that is at once inspirational, moving and utterly compelling. And it is the only story worth hearing: the players' own.

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A native son of Limerick, Tom English is an award-winning BBC Sport writer and broadcaster. A former Irish rugby correspondent with the Sunday Times and chief sports writer with Scotland on Sunday, he was voted Scottish Sports Feature Writer of the Year six times. He won Rugby Book of the Year at the 2011 British Sports Book Awards for The Grudge, his account of the 1990 Grand Slam showdown between Scotland and England, and is a co-author of the best-selling Behind The Lions: Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions. Follow him on Twitter: @ TomEnglishSport