Good Rugby Reads

Crucial

Not RWC, but how cool would that be. Get to play pro rugby with your son...... 
Regan King and son to turn out for Scarlets <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/welsh-regional-player-who-create-10353559">http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/welsh-regional-player-who-create-10353559</a>

Crucial

Here's a good read to kill some time... <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story//id/14001828/the-110-year-old-book-made-modern-all-blacks-warned-modern-rugby">http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story//id/14001828/the-110-year-old-book-made-modern-all-blacks-warned-modern-rugby</a>

Crucial

This one is quite funny. The42 have selected a non NZ XV of the RWC then added pictures of each player "with images of 14 of them being dominated by New Zealanders."
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/kiwi-free-team-of-rugby-world-cup-2420204-Nov2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/kiwi-free-team-of-rugby-world-cup-2420204-Nov2015/</a>

taniwharugby

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11968981/He-is-as-reliable-and-resilient-as-a-machine-but-Dan-Carter-is-simply-poetry-in-motion-when-he-plays-rugby.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11968981/He-is-as-reliable-and-resilient-as-a-machine-but-Dan-Carter-is-simply-poetry-in-motion-when-he-plays-rugby.html</a>

He is as reliable and resilient as a machine, but Dan Carter is simply poetry in motion when he plays rugby

Like Wilkinson in 2003 or McCaw in 2011, Carter performed impeccably on rugby's biggest stage and was influential in his team's success

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<div>Poetry in motion: Carter raised his game in the semi-final and final Photo: Telegraph</div>
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By <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/willgreenwood/' title="Will Greenwood"> Will Greenwood</a>
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6:59PM GMT 01 Nov 2015
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<img src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/template/ver1-0/i/share/comments.gif" alt="comments.gif"><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11968981/He-is-as-reliable-and-resilient-as-a-machine-but-Dan-Carter-is-simply-poetry-in-motion-when-he-plays-rugby.html#disqus_thread'>3 Comments</a>
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It was the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. I thought I had witnessed the complete performance from a No 10 with Jonny Wilkinson's virtuoso performance in Dublin in 2003. But Dan Carter's all-round mastery of the position in that game - at the age of just 23 - left me breathless. And I was only watching from the stands.
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I remember thinking, as the final whistle sounded on a 48-18 annihilation which secured a decisive 2-0 lead for the All Blacks in that series: 'Yep, I think that may just have edged Jonny into No 2'. <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11967567/New-Zealand-vs-Australia-Five-things-we-learned-from-Rugby-World-Cup-final.html'>Fast forward 10 years and Carter is still a complete machine</a>. Although, of course, he isn't a machine at all. Nothing so blunt and robotic. Carter is like poetry in motion when he plays rugby. It all looks so effortless.
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I would love to attach a heart rate monitor to him during a game to see when (whether) his pulse actually spikes. I'm sure it does because he makes lung-busting runs and big tackles as well as doing all the graceful stuff. He made a couple of big tackles on Saturday. But he never seems to be exerting himself.
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Dan Carter has represented New Zealand 112 times
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With lots of fly halves it is all very staccato. They will stand deep, assess what is ahead of them, and then sprint into space or contact, often falling flat on their faces because it is so stop-start.
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Carter makes an anaerobic game look aerobic. With him it is perpetual motion. He coasts to the line, always taking the ball flat, always seemingly having the time and space to operate, head up, <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11968363/New-Zealand-34-Australia-17-Seven-defining-moments-from-the-Rugby-World-Cup-final.html'>offering himself as an option</a>. He cops plenty of punishment as a result of always playing so close to the gainline, but he is a tough-as-teak competitor. If he has to tough it out he will.
The funny thing is, considering the way he ended the tournament, Carter actually arrived at this World Cup out of form. After years of serious injuries, the pace which had caused me to sit mouth agape in the stands in Wellington as he scored twice, the first a brilliant solo effort from 50m out, had long since deserted him. He was not even kicking well. But like all great players, he grabbed the initiative and imposed his will on the occasion.
He has scored 1,598 Test points for his country
The way he kicked that drop goal <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11963694/New-Zealand-vs-Australia-Rugby-World-Cup-final-live.html'>in the second half on Saturday</a>, after Australia had closed to within four points, was simply outrageous. He had no right kicking that goal. He was not sitting deep in the pocket, buying himself time and space. He wanted to make it look normal so he stood flat, on the gainline, giving himself minimal backswing. Sensational.
Then, on the restart, he put over a deft little chip from which he tackled Kurtley Beale and won New Zealand a scrum. Then he landed a 51m penalty to make it a 10-point game again.
It was as if he had written the final script himself, which of course he had. Like Jonny in 2003, <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11968096/Richie-McCaw-is-the-best-All-Black-ever-says-New-Zealand-head-coach-Steve-Hansen.html'>like Richie McCaw</a>, who took the final lineout in the semi-final against South Africa, like all greats, he took responsibility, imposing his will on the game rather than the other way around.
He has won the IRB Player of the Year Award twice
The greatest 10 of all time? Comparisons between players and generations are invidious. How can you compared Carter with Barry John? Or Michael Lynagh? Or Stephen Larkham? Or Jonny? You can't. They are all different. Carter would not put his shoulder into an opponent and then stand over him, all machismo. He would not win his team five turnovers every game. Aesthetically, too, he was different. He was a drop punter, kicking the ball end-to-end where Jonny was always a fan of the spiral kick.
Carter played for the best country in the world, with lots of front football, and played like a genius in that team. But wherever he went he just had a winning effect. Call it The Carter Effect. Perpignan? They won the top 14 despite him snapping his Achilles. He raised the levels of those around him, like we grew an inch when we had Martin Johnson on the field with us. His kicking out of hand, his kicking off the tee, his awareness, his control, his hands, his reading of the game...all of them top drawer.
I very rarely had the chance to go up against him on the field as my career was ending just as his was taking off, but when I did I was left in no doubt that I was in the presence of a great.
He has played in one Rugby World Cup final
And like all greats,<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/front-row/11967960/Twitter-hails-greatest-ever-Dan-Carter-and-All-Black-history-makers.html'> he wrote his own scripts</a>. He would never have said so himself, but I suspect he always attached a asterisk to his World Cup win in 2011. He was desperate to remove that asterisk. And this time no injury, no temporary loss of form, was going to derail him. His performance on Saturday put me in mind of Tiger Woods winning the US Open on one leg in 2008 at Torrey Pines. Or McCaw in the 2011 final when he had no right being on that field.
It was sheer guts and willpower. We will probably never know just how injured Carter was in this tournament but he turned up in the semi-final with strapping on his thigh and he turned up in the final with strapping on his knee.
It is a cliche, of course, but he is just as classy off the pitch as he is on it. Genuinely. Despite his huge star wattage, he is completely down to earth, always generous with his time, unfailingly polite. I remember him turning up at Augusta at last year's Masters and I was with a load of 'celebs' from the world of sport and entertainment. Jamie Redknapp, One Direction band members. That sort of thing. Carter turns up at a BBQ and it was as if some demi-God had turned up in our midst. Everyone wanted a piece of him. He just wanted to wander around the back of the eighth green, enjoying the fact that no one out there recognised him. But what a player and what a man.
That final conversion with the wrong (right) foot on Saturday? Anyone else tries that and they would have been accused of being an arrogant ****. Carter? It was like Ronnie O'Sullivan. Everyone there just felt privileged to have watched a genius in action.
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timslim

The SBW and the gifted medal is getting far too much time imo, so I'll offer up this far more enjoyable 11 minute (or so) read on SBW and boxing.
 
It's from a North & South article in 2013 - but repurposed for the web. 
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://medium.com/westside-stories/ali-sonny-bill-and-me-63603db17b25#.6zhkkta0f'>https://medium.com/westside-stories/ali-sonny-bill-and-me-63603db17b25#.6zhkkta0f</a>

Victor Meldrew

This is the UK Daily Telegraph's take on the best players from RWC 2015. The paper is generally crap,but this is actually very funny.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11969841/Rugby-World-Cup-2015-Readers-team-of-the-tournament.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11969841/Rugby-World-Cup-2015-Readers-team-of-the-tournament.html</a>

red terror

Ted has his latest column up at the Guardian. He justifiably spooges over the ABs & Richie who can blame him, not me, then pivots to rugby in general, says it's in good hands but raises questions about the Laws:
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">What are we going to do with the rules of rugby? Mum is a little concerned about little Johnny because the game is becoming too physical. She may have a point. The rulebook is far too complicated, no wonder itâ€™s difficult for referees. Start again: simplify the laws, decrease the physicality by lowering the tackle zone and use hands to recycle at the breakdown. Make sure all the props are straight and square at a scrum, heads above hips. And does the rolling maul from a lineout give the team with the ball too much of an advantage? Does it contradict how the game is refereed outside of the lineout, with players in front of the ball carrier protecting him? And should we substitute the referee when he is either tired or having a shocker?
 
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<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/02/new-zealand-rugby-world-cup-final-australia-emerging-countries-rulebook'>http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/02/new-zealand-rugby-world-cup-final-australia-emerging-countries-rulebook</a>

KiwiPie

Only slightly rugby related
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/11972771/How-the-genius-of-Lionel-Messi-and-Dan-Carter-gave-me-hope-in-fighting-cancer.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/11972771/How-the-genius-of-Lionel-Messi-and-Dan-Carter-gave-me-hope-in-fighting-cancer.html</a>
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How the genius of Lionel Messi and Dan Carter gave me hope in fighting cancer

Two moments of breathtaking skill made my illness fall away and confirmed that there is no finer vehicle for optimism than sport

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Crucial

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11539563'>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11539563</a>
 
A Sumo article on SBW

JC

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiPie" data-cid="538962" data-time="1446567863">
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Only slightly rugby related
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/11972771/How-the-genius-of-Lionel-Messi-and-Dan-Carter-gave-me-hope-in-fighting-cancer.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/11972771/How-the-genius-of-Lionel-Messi-and-Dan-Carter-gave-me-hope-in-fighting-cancer.html</a>

 
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Jeez did you read some of the comments at the bottom? Some people really are fluffybunnies aren't they?

Victor Meldrew

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JC" data-cid="539168" data-time="1446612878">
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Jeez did you read some of the comments at the bottom? Some people really are fluffybunnys aren't they?
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There's a fair few fluffybunnies, weirdos, and obsessives who act like this sadly, Gave up on those type of forums years ago for that reason. Some of the articles seem designed to bring them out of the woodwork - e.g any article on PI rugby always has a reference to NZ "benefitting unfairly".
 
If you have a black sense of humour, you can have a bit of fun though - once got one fluffybunny who was complaining about alleged poaching to admit the real reason he was upset was there were "too many dark faces representing a predominatantly white country".

Crucial

Some interesting points made in this. 
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/milner-skudder-profile-simon-hick-2424563-Nov2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/milner-skudder-profile-simon-hick-2424563-Nov2015/</a>

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="539297" data-time="1446670772">
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Some interesting points made in this. 
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.the42.ie/milner-skudder-profile-simon-hick-2424563-Nov2015/'>http://www.the42.ie/milner-skudder-profile-simon-hick-2424563-Nov2015/</a>
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Ireland gets rugby stories like this. We get Reason and Ratturd.

Crucial

Excellent interview post final with Nigel Owens. Very good read. <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/nigel-owens-rugby-world-cup-10383894">http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/nigel-owens-rugby-world-cup-10383894</a> 
Some of the other links on that page are worth a look too

Crucial

I think we could change the thread name on this and keep it going. Have discovered the is some good rugby writing out there if you get past the crap.

booboo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="539556" data-time="1446718060">
I think we could change the thread name on this and keep it going. Have discovered the is some good rugby writing out there if you get past the crap.</blockquote>
 
Done

taniwharugby

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://eliteperformancesportpsychology.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/why-sonny-bill-williams-handed-the-medal-to-the-child-all-black-culture/'>https://eliteperformancesportpsychology.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/why-sonny-bill-williams-handed-the-medal-to-the-child-all-black-culture/</a>

Victor Meldrew

Austen Healey provides a solution to England's Rugby problems - buy a S15 Franchise.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11980146/English-rugby-needs-to-raise-its-standards-they-should-buy-a-Super-Rugby-franchise.html'>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11980146/English-rugby-needs-to-raise-its-standards-they-should-buy-a-Super-Rugby-franchise.html</a>

taniwharugby

only problem is which Country will relinquish a team to stack full of English players? 
 
NZ teams would still be owned by the NZRU (well 51%) and as such have NZ Rugby interests at heart, Aus teams are the same I think? SA want more teams for themselves to cope with thier abundance of talent...Argies arent gonna let thier chance go by giving up spots to English players, so maybe the Japanese team is where they should look?

Kirwan

It's an always expanding Comp buy a new place in it.

The Silver Fern

Good Rugby Reads