If you're new to the sport or you feel you could sharpen up your knowledge of the game, this guide is for you. Inside you'll find easy-to-understand advice on the basic rules and pitch positions, plus in-depth lessons on ball skills, fitness training, and techniques to outwit your opponents - all illustrated with entertaining stories from British and International rugby's back pages. In addition, you get a grounding in the local, national and international reaches of Rugby Union Rugby Union For Dummies 3rd Edition: Features an in-depth and up-to-date look at the Laws that form the beautiful game Covers all you will need to know about talking tactics and is perfect for anyone looking at swatting up on rugby for the World Cup and beyond Advises on all you will need to know to get stuck in and play Contains a new chapter on sevens as the sport will be a demonstration sport at London 2012 and a full sport at Rio 2016

Inspiring and irreverent by turns, Brian Levison's new anthology has drawn on rugby's wealth of excellent writing. Frank Keating, P. G. Wodehouse, Alec Waugh, A. A. Thomson, John Reason and Mick Imlah are among the distinguished names who have written movingly, amusingly and entertainingly about the game they loved. Great players such as Brian O'Driscoll, Willie John McBride, J. P. R. Williams, Chester Williams, Colin Meads, Gavin Hastings and Brian Moore give us a fascinating insider's view, as does World Cup Final referee Derek Bevan, who reveals what it is like to try to control thirty powerful and often volatile men in a highly competitive situation. But some of the best writing and the wittiest insights come from those who played their rugby at a much less exalted level. The origins of the game - sometimes true, sometimes fanciful - are explored as are some of its rituals like the haka. There are amusing tales including that of the four Tibetan boys sent by the Dalai Lama to learn the game at Rugby School and an account of New Zealand scrum-half Chris Laidlaw's hostile reception at a village fête in Wales. Along with barely believable stories about the game's hardest men, including the French coach Jean 'le Sultan' Sébédio, who used to conduct training sessions wearing a sombrero and wielding a long whip, and 'Red' Conway who had his finger amputated rather than miss a game for South Africa. One section 'Double Vision' looks at the same incident from opposing viewpoints, such as when the then relatively inexperienced Irish immortal Willie John McBride took a swing at the mighty All Black Colin Meads in a line-out. Another, 'Giving it Everything', shows how exceptional courage was not restricted to the rugby field but extended to the battle grounds of the First World War. From the compiler of highly acclaimed All in a Day's Cricket, this selection covers the game from virtually every angle and is sure to delight any rugby fan.

Instant Notes in Sport and Exercise Psychology provides concise coverage of sport and exercise psychology at the undergraduate level, and also covers the crucial basic psychology that underpins the subject. It has four main themes: theoretical approaches and research methods sport psychology at both the individual and group level of analysis exercise psychology practical applications including performance enhancement and ethics. Suitable for students in sport and exercise science, sport psychology, sport studies and sports management, it will be useful for coaches and athletes who wish to gain an up-to-date understanding of the key concepts, theories and research in this area.

At the George, Geoffrey Moorhouse's testament to a lifelong love of rugby league, was shortlisted for the inaugural William Hill Sports Book of the Year award in 1989. 'The very soul of rugby league, a sport that has been called 'the toughest in the world', lives within the pages of At the George. From first acquaintance some seasons ago, I believed it to be the finest book ever penned on the thirteen-a-side game... Today, the book remains as fresh as ever and as firmly placed on its pedestal... It is a seminal work, a precious treasure of the game. The book is from the heart, written by a man of intellect, who was bowled over by what he saw one May afternoon at Maine Road, Manchester, back in 1946, and who never lost his affection for the game.' Ian Head, from his new Preface to this edition

Instant Notes Sport and Exercise Biomechanics provides a comprehensive overview of the key concepts in exercise and sport biomechanics. The kinematics of motion are reviewed in detail, outlining the physics of motion. Mechanical characteristics of motion, the mechanisms of injury, and the analysis of the sport technique provides a source of valuable information.