By Sian Partridge
January 25 2003

There are a plethora of rugby books, from coaching, fitness and mental training to biographies or the great and good. There's no subsitute for watching the great Leeds Tykes perform, but in these lean times between matches, needs must!

First off, where can you get these books from? Well, there's Waterstones of course, and Smiths may well do a small selection in any given shop, but you really can't beat internet shopping when it comes to book buying. There are many excellent outlets on the net - www.sportspages.co.uk, www.sportsbooksdirect.co.uk and Amazon among many.

The following lists aren’t necessarily personal recommendations, but a cross-section of what’s currently available. If you would like more information on these books, either look on the websites above or get in touch with me and I can find out more details for you. I can be contacted through my email – sianpartridge@hotmail.com

If you have a particular favourite rugby book, please let us know about it - just post a message on the message board - and we may create our own Top 10 Tykes Reading.

Biographies

If biographies are your interest, here are a few recommendations of books recently published in 2001 / 2002 -

1. Jason Leonard: The Autobiography
2. Jonny Wilkinson: Lions and Falcons
3. Meads: Autobiography of New Zealander Colin Meads
4. Full Moon: Rugby in the Red (Rupert Moon)
5. Allan Bateman: There and Back Again
6. Jeremy Guscott: The Autobiography
7. Chester: A Biography of Courage (Chester Williams)
8. I, George Nepia – The Autobiography of a Rugby Legend
9. Lions, Tigers and Roses – Austin Healey
10. Agony & Ecstasy – My Diary of An Amazing Rugby Season – Martin Johnson

General

There are stacks of books on the market covering all sorts of rugby related topics, here are some general recommendations –

1. Midnight Rugby – Stephen Jones
2. The Tangled Mane – Eddie Butler
3. Putting it on the Line – Billy Stickland
4. Rugby and All That – Martin Johnson
5. The Great Number Tens – Frank Keating
6. The Bluffer’s Guide to Rugby – Alexander Rae
7. Rugby’s Strangest Matches – John Griffiths
8. Tackling Rugby: The Changing World of Professional Rugby – Gareth Edwards
9. Man in the Middle – Derek Bevan
10. Great Rugby Headlines: Stories from the Back Pages – Michael O’Mara

Coaching / Fitness

Some of you might either coach, play or referee matches as well as watch the mighty Tykes – these might be just up your street to keep your match fitness going....

1. Rugby Tough – Bruce Hale / Dave Collins
2. Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules: The New Zealand Way – Tony Williams
3. Rugby: Steps to Success – Tony Biscombe
4. Think Rugby – Jim Greenwood
5. The RFU Guide to Fitness for Rugby – Rex Hazeldine
6. The RFU Handbook of Safe Rugby – RFU
7. Eating for England – Ann Menzies
8. 101 Rugby Training Drills – Damien McGrath
9. The Rugby Union Referees Manual – RFU
10. Total Rugby – Jim Greenwood

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If you have any recommendations, or if you'd like to endorse anything said on this page, please post a message on the message board...

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