Fitzsimons on Rugby

Peter FitzSimons has been playing, thinking and living rugby for just about the whole of his life. But more importantly, he has been writing about that compellingly infuriating game we love with wit, perception and unbridled enthusiasm.

In this collection of his best rugby writing Peter takes us from Peats Ridge, where the game began for him, to the great rugby fields of the world, Murrayfield, Lansdowne Road, Parc du Prince, Ballymore and Eden Park. He tells us exactly what it's like to be at the bottom of an All Black maul and explains the peculiarly French and Italian ways with the game, the pride of national selection and the craziness of being on tour as only one who's been there can.

But it's not just the joys of the game about which Peter writes so passionately. He is candid in his descriptions of the sometimes fierce personal politics of selection and of the battle to establish a world rugby corporation that nearly destroyed the code. And of course, there are the personalities: Mark Ella, Alan Jones, Jonah Lomu, Abdelatif Bennazi, Nick Farr-Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick, David Campese, John Hart, not all of whom emerge covered with glory.

FitzSimons on Rugby is Peter FitzSimons at his wicked best.Peter FitzSimons played seven tests in the second row for the Wallabies and was known as a fierce mauler of the ball. He has been full time with the Sydney Morning Herald since 1989. He also appears on The Back Page for the Fox Sports television service in Australia and weekly on The Tight Five on New Zealand TV. His other books include Beazley: A Biography, Nick Farr-Jones, and The Rugby War.