The gruesome stories of the hardest, most ruthless rugby players from around the world since World War I. As talented as they were fiery, many were just as lively off the pitch as on it. In our era of citing commissioners, super slow-motion replays and trial by social media, some of their actions are quite hard to believe! Foreword by Nigel Owens.

Drawing on the collective knowledge of experienced players and coaches, this book prepares rugby players to withstand the rigours of the sport. It helps identify strengths and weaknesses and goes on to game strategy and improving the team's mental focus.

WINNER OF THE 2010 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE. Brian Moore, or 'Pitbull' as he came to be known during nearly a decade at the heart of the England rugby team's pack, established himself as one of the game's original hard men at a time when rugby was still an amateur sport. Since his retirement, he has earned a reputation as an equally uncompromising commentator, never afraid to tell it as he sees it and lash out at the money men and professionals that have made rugby into such a different beast. Yet, for all his bullishness on and off the pitch, there also appears a more unconventional, complicated side to the man. A solicitor by trade, Moore's love of fine wine, career experience as a manicurist and preference for reading Shakespeare in the dressing room before games, mark him out as anything but the stereotypical rugby player and in Beware of the Dog Moore lays open with astounding frankness the shocking events, both personal and professional, that have gone towards shaping him over the years. Presenting an unparalleled insight into the mind of one of British rugby's greatest players and characters, Beware of the Dog is a uniquely engaging and upfront sporting memoir, and a deserved winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize.

This book looks at 20 rugby union players who fought on wel pitches for little but pride and honour in the days prior to the game turning professional in 1995, such as Dai Morris, Graham Price, Ray Prosser, Brian Thomas, Delme Thomas, Geoff Wheel, J P R Williams, R H Williams, W O Williams and Bobby Windsor.

When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher. The ranks of rugby league around the world have been liberally peppered with hardmen. With violence that would never be tolerated off the footy field, the game has always been rough, tough and dangerous. Stiff-arm tackles, headbutts, spear tackles - all aimed at maiming the opposition players - were once just part of the game. But while the thuggery of old has been cleaned up, the modern game of huge hits at breakneck speed is definitely no place for the faint-hearted. Fans in pubs and clubs have always talked about the courage of their favourite sons - men who never took a backward step, like legendary South Sydney captain John Sattler, who played through the 1970 Premiership grand final with his jaw broken in three places, and 'Bumper' Farrell, who was accused of biting off the ear of an opponent as he simultaneously gouged his eyes. In more recent times Andrew Johns orchestrated Newcastle's 1997 grand final success with a punctured lung and three broken ribs, and pint-sized Gold Coast star Preston Campbell picked up a broken jaw early in the game but hid it from team-mates until the final whistle. But Hardmen is much more than a collection of bone-crunching collisions and wild confrontations. As Malcolm Andrews' vivid profiles of the most courageous and colourful dramatically unfold - from those who played on with broken legs in early times to the fast and furious high impact of today - we see both the fascinating evolution of the game and the fiercely resolute qualities that have steadfastly remained at its heart. Simply put, Hardmen captures the unique spirit of rugby league with the greatest collection of ripping yarns ever published in a single volume. I always enjoyed the game more when there was a body or two lying about. It made my job a bit more interesting. - Vince Karalius It was a real bloodbath. John O'Neill got 16 stitches in one of his shins. It was huge gaping wound with blood everywhere. But he still couldn't keep the grin off his face. Father John Cootes

If all sports are really about war, then rugby is a heart-thumping epic of bayonet charges and hand-to-hand fighting. In Memoirs of a Rugby-Playing Man, bestselling author Jay Atkinson describes his thirty-five year odyssey in the sport-from his rough and rowdy days at the University of Florida, through the intrigue of various foreign tours, club championships, and all star selections, up to his current stint with the freewheeling Vandals Rugby Club out of Los Angeles. Jay has played in more than 500 matches, for which he's suffered three broken ribs, a detached retina, a fractured cheekbone and orbital bone, four deadened teeth, and a dislocated ankle. Written in the style of Siegried Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Atkinson's book explains why it was all worth it--the sum total of his violent adventures, and the valuable insights he has gained from them.

In a nation of rugby heroes, Jamie Roberts has become a legend. Jamie Roberts is your quintessential hard man: a 6 foot 4, 17 stone slab of rippling muscle, conditioned to run hard into other huge men in an arena where physical dominance is the prime currency. Yet away from rugby, he's a mild-mannered and thoughtful man - a qualified doctor with a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity about the world around him. It's an intriguing contradiction. In his first full season with the Cardiff Blues he was picked by new Wales coach Warren Gatland in the Grand Slam-winning side of 2008. He was still establishing his position in the national team when he toured with the 2009 Lions, emerging as Player of the Series. He went on to win 97 Test caps and play for clubs in Paris, London and Cape Town, yet his career has seldom been straightforward. A fractured skull was one of many injuries he had to overcome, and from the start he had to juggle the competing demands of university life and professional rugby. The joy of Six Nations success with Wales was balanced by heartbreak in the World Cup and disappointment against southern-hemisphere teams, while major trophies at club level proved frustratingly elusive. In this colourful and frank account of a sterling career, Jamie Roberts reveals all about life on tour, in boot camps and in dressing rooms filled with once-in-a-generation characters such as Mike Phillips, Andy Powell, Shaun Edwards, Martyn Williams, Brian O'Driscoll and Johnny Sexton. He also shares his views on concussion in rugby, the failings of the professional structure in Wales and the vital role of old-school team-bonding.