"As always, we gather in a tight circle with our arms over each other's shoulders and look each other in the eye as a few final words are said, the referee's whistle blows and we file out, steel sprigs clicking on the concrete floor, towards the tunnel, and the noise and colour of the arena. 'Carmina Burana' is at full throttle on the loudspeaker system and the drums of the Toulouse fans are thudding a slow martial beat..."
Since rugby went professional in 1996, players once passionately loyal to their own teams and countries have crossed the world to play for unknown teams in foreign countries. John Daniell signed with French club Racing in 1997, 'for money and for the love of the game, but mainly for the money'.
In this unflinchingly honest and often hilariously funny personal account, the former Wellington Lion, who played for Montpellier until the end of the 2006 season, brilliantly conveys the world of French rugby, in which a team losing a game at home is considered a crime, matches are often unimaginably brutal, coaches will try anything - including bizarre team-building sessions - to get their teams on top, and agents ruthlessly manipulate players.
Perfect reading in World Cup year and beyond.
John Daniell has played rugby all over the world for teams from New Zealand, England and France. Since turning professional in 1996 he has played for French clubs Racing (1997-2000), Perpignan (2000-2003) and Montpellier Herault (2003-2006). Currently a free-lance journalist, he has been published in
The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph and the
Listener, and in French publications Rugby and La Semaine du Roussillon.
Watch John Daniell's interview with John Campbell here.
THE OBSERVER loves Inside French Rugby: Confessions of a Kiwi Mercenary by John Daniell. On November 11, its reviewer raved: "You may have to delve behind the more prominently positioned rugby books to find this one, but it will reward you long after the clamour surrounding the others has drifted away on the wind."
|
|
