Wales and the Lions dominate rugby union's seasonal selection

SPORTS BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS: RUGBY UNION

Christmas 2012 comes too early for the definitive story of the England rugby team's astounding victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham to make it into print but while that one waits to be written there are plenty of contenders for the rugby fan's wish list.

They range from the year's bestseller, Jonny Wilkinson's Jonny: My Autobiography to Behind the Lions, a collection of stories that will whet the appetite for next summer's tour of Australia by the British and Irish Lions.

Wilkinson's story, ghost written by Times journalist Owen Slot, made the longlist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2012, both for the quality of the writing and the depth of the England fly-half's soul-searching.   Wilkinson has been a tortured soul, wracked by self-doubt, fearful of the future to the extent that, even in his career-defining moment, when his drop goal sealed England's historic World Cup victory in 2003, he was soon agonising over whether he could ever live up to the expectations he had made for himself.

The disappointment of losing the 2001 Lions series against Australia in the final minute of the final Test ranks high among Wilkinson's several disappointments, which has led him to announce that he would relish the chance to correct that piece of unfinished business next summer, as a prelude to which four of the most esteemed British rugby writers have pooled their talents to create a unique history of Lions tours.

Behind the Lions: Playing Rugby for the British and Irish Lions (Birlinn) is the fruit of the combined efforts of Stephen Jones, Wales-born rugby correspondent of The Sunday Times, Irishman Tom English, the chief sports writer for Scotland on Sunday, Nick Cain, the English chief writer for The Rugby Paper, and freelance rugby journalist David Barnes, a Scot.
The four tell the story of the Lions through the eyes of the players, having interviewed scores of former tourists to uncover the passion, pride and honour associated with wearing the famous red jersey, telling tales of heart-breaks and highs, painful moments and funny ones, some laced with poignancy, others inspirational.

The 2013 Lions tour to Australia is also at the top of Sam Warburton's ambitions for the next 12 months, along with retaining the Grand Slam for Wales.

Warburton details his first year as Wales captain, having set a record as the youngest player to lead that country in 2011 at 22 years and 242 days, in Refuse to be Denied: My Grand Slam Year (Simon & Schuster), which explains that his reluctance to accept the captain's role was so deep that he felt he survived the 'ordeal' of his first game in charge, against the Barbarians in May 2011, only by reassuring himself that he would not be asked back.

In the end, he led Wales to the semi-finals of the World Cup, where his own tournament ended with a red card, and to the nation's third Six Nations Grand Slam in eight years.  Written with the help of Sunday Telegraph journalist Steve James, Refuse to be Denied has been described as an honest and insightful look at a year in an international rugby player’s life.

Welsh rugby fans eager to relive Grand Slam glory will enjoy Trinity Sport Media's behind-the-scenes record Inside the Camp, an official Welsh Rugby Union book which follows the Wales team from their pre-tournament training camp in Poland through every match, with previously unpublished photographs.

TSM's exclusive access allowed their cameras into every corner of the team's life, on and off the field, and there are images of the players in training as well as matches, and in their relaxation time away from the intensity of competition.

The Wales rugby team is the focus of another new offering, Wales Play in Red: The Rugby Diaries of Carolyn Hitt (Gomer). Since you ask, Carolyn is a columnist for the Western Mail who as a child yearned to be allowed to go to the Arms Park with her older brothers and then found her love affair with rugby reignited by accident, in 1999, when she was asked to write about the World Cup, in the classic style of old-fashioned male editors, 'from a woman's viewpoint'.
She went on to cover four World Cups, two Lions tours and a dozen Six Nations tournaments and became the first woman to be named Welsh Sports Journalist of the Year.  Known for the warmth and wit of her writing, she is also an accomplished television presenter.

Wales Play in Red draws on the best of Hitt's sports writing and tells the story of Welsh rugby since that 1999 World Cup to the present day, charting the peaks of success and the lows of defeat and scandal, recalling charismatic characters and memorable matches.

Among those characters, one of several to have passed through the revolving door marked national coach, is Graham Henry, who was appointed on a salary reputed to have made him the world's highest paid rugby coach in 1998.

Henry, who went on to enjoy huge success coaching the All Blacks in his native New Zealand, left the Wales job before the 27-year wait for a Grand Slam ended in 2005 but was nonetheless nicknamed 'The Great Redeemer' after presiding over a run of 11 consecutive wins.  Henry's autobiography, Final Word, is published by HarperSport.

Away from the world of Welsh rugby, and back on the Lions theme, former Ireland and British and Irish Lions player Stewart McKinney has followed up his popular Voices From the Back of the Bus with another collection of stories, Roars From the Back of the Bus: Rugby Tales of Life With the Lions (Mainstream).

Roars From the Back of the Bus was inspired by the number of friends McKinney met at the memorial service for the former England No 8 Andy Ripley in 2010, reminding him of the camaraderie shared by rugby players, particularly on tour and especially on Lions tours. McKinney has taken his research right back to the first Lions tour in 1888 and was granted exclusive access to letters from Alexander Findlater Todd in 1896 and to diaries from 1938 and 1955, unearthing stories about Lions players of the like of Blair Mayne who were war heroes as well as intrepid rugby tourists, and of characters such as Sir Carl Aarvold, who was a Cambridge blue for rugby, president of the Lawn Tennis Association and whose career as a barrister and judge saw him preside over the trial of the Kray twins.

McKinney shows that despite today's professional game having changed rugby so much, parallels can still be drawn between more recent tourists such as Jamie Heaslip, Brian O'Driscoll and Joe Worsley and their colourful predecessors.

The selection of autobiographies on the Christmas shelves also include those of two Irish legends -- The Bull: My Story, by John Hayes (Simon & Schuster) and The Outsider, by Geordan Murphy (Penguin Ireland).

The multi-decorated All Black captain Richie McCaw, the most capped New Zealand player of all time, tells his story in The Real McCaw (Aurum Press).

The other big sellers of 2012, both listed in Nielsen Bookscan's top 100, were Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson (Simon & Schuster), which was shortlisted for William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011, and Lewis Moody's Mad Dog: My Life in Rugby (Hodder).

For more details and to buy any of the titles above, follow the links below or go to the Rugby Page at the Sports Bookshelf Shop.

Jonny: My Autobiography, by Jonny Wilkinson
Behind the Lions: Playing Rugby for the British & Irish Lions
Refuse to be Denied: My Grand Slam Year, by Sam Warburton
Inside the Camp: Wales Grand Slam 2012
Wales Play in Red: The Rugby Diaries of Carolyn Hitt
Final Word, by Graham Henry
Roars from the Back of the Bus: Rugby Tales of Life with the Lions, by Stewart McKinney
The Bull: My Story, by John Hayes
The Outsider, by Geordan Murphy
The Real McCaw: The Autobiograhy , by Richie McCaw
Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson, by Paul Kimmage
Mad Dod - An Englishman: My Life in Rugby, by Lewis Moody

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Vote for your favourite sports book and win £50 in book tokens

Times is running out for the chance to win £50 in National Book Tokens by voting for your favourite sports book from among the winners at the British Sports Book Awards, announced earlier this month.  Follow the link to an online form to register your vote an be entered automatically into a draw. The closing date is next Sunday, June 12th.
To help you chose, The Sports Bookshelf is highlighting each of the eight contenders to be named the overall British Sports Book of the Year. Today's category winner:

BEST RUGBY BOOK 

The Grudge is Scotland on Sunday journalist Tom English’s gripping account of a rugby match that became the focal point for a clash of political cultures, brought to a head when Scotland was identified as the testing ground for the introduction of the most notorious piece of taxation legislation in living memory, the Community Charge, otherwise known as the Poll Tax.


Poll Tax was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's baby and was universally unpopular.  The view that it was inherently unfair was widespread but took on an extra dimension north of the border, where it was seen as an English tax.

Given that rugby, with its roots in the public school system, had maintained its place as the sport of the privately-educated, Conservative-voting, wealthier classes in the English social pyramid, it is not hard to grasp see why the England rugby team was seen as Thatcher’s team in the eyes of aggrieved Scots, with Will Carling -- himself an ex-public schoolboy and a City type -- her figurehead.

The when the two nations met in 1990, with the Calcutta Cup and the Five Nations Grand Slam at stake, the match was portrayed also as a snarling, brutish and all-conquering England against a downtrodden Scotland bent on revenge.

In the event, Scotland won 13-7 and English has told the story with astounding insight and unprecedented access to key players, coaches and supporters on both sides.

If (Martin) Johnson really wants to crank things up, he need only read aloud a few extracts from The Grudge, a quite outstanding new book by Tom English about the epic 1990 grand slam showdown. There was nothing remotely phoney about the antagonism between Scotland and England then – in Will Carling, Brian Moore and Margaret Thatcher the Scots had some choice pantomime villains. 
--- Robert Kitson, The Guardian. Read more…

Buy The Grudge: Scotland vs. England, 1990

Winners in the other categories were
Best Autobiography -- Beware of the Dog, by Brian Moore
Best Cricket Book  -- Slipless in Settle, by Harry Pearson
Best Football Book -- Promised Land, by Anthony Clavane
Best Biography -- Trautmann's Journey, by Catrine Clay
Best New Writer -- Bounce, by Matthew Syed
Best Racing Book -- The Story of Your Life, by James Lambie
Best Illustrated Title -- '61 The Spurs Double, by Doug Cheeseman, Martin Cloake and Adam Powley

Vote HERE for your favourite book from the winners of each of the award categories at the British Sports Book Awards at and you'll be entered -- free of charge -- in a draw to win £50 of National Book Tokens. Closing date June 12th. Full terms and conditions on the voting form.


VOTE NOW

To browse more books on rugby, visit The Sports Bookshelf Shop.

Read about the other award winners.

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Vote for your favourite sports book and win £50 in book tokens

Why not take the chance to win £50 in National Book Tokens by voting for your favourite sports book from among the winners at the British Sports Book Awards, announced earlier this month!  Follow the link to an online form to register your vote an be entered automatically into a draw.
To help you chose, over the next few days the Sports Bookshelf will highlight each of the eight contenders to be named the overall British Sports Book of the Year. Today's category winner:

BEST AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Brian Moore’s bleakly honest life story had already collected the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for 2010 before it was announced as winner of the Best Autobiography category at the British Sports Book Awards.

The former England rugby hooker‘s candid and unsettling memoir tracks the highs and lows of a highly successful rugby career but goes much further, revealing painful memories of sexual abuse suffered as a schoolboy and the feelings of rejection he encountered as an adopted child, as well as later battles with depression and drink.

That said, Moore has been applauded for his presentation of those revelations, which do not dominate the book as much as they grabbed the headlines. While the vivid descriptions of his state of mind make compelling reading, there are enough rugby stories to satisfy most appetites. Moore has been hailed as an exceptional writer and his acceptance speech conveyed his pride at being recognised for his work.

Moore, or 'Pitbull' as he came to be known, established himself as one of the game's hard men and has subsequently earned a reputation as an equally uncompromising commentator, never afraid to tell it as he sees it. Beware of the Dog: Rugby's Hard Man Reveals All, is published by Simon & Schuster.

Moore, at primary school, being sexually abused by a male teacher…is an unsettling revelation, not just because of the criminal misery Moore and others endured, but also because its exposure here is placed in that icky middle ground between a cathartic personal statement and a sales-stimulating scoop. Disdain for that should be directed at the editors — Moore, to his credit, just lays out the facts, accepts that the experience damaged his relationships but didn’t define his life, then moves on to the rugby. --- Brian Schofield, The Sunday Times. Read more...

Winners in the other categories were
Best Biography -- Trautmann's Journey, by Catrine Clay
Best Football Book -- Promised Land, by Anthony Clavane
Best Cricket Book -- Slipless in Settle, by Harry Pearson
Best Rugby Book -- The Grudge, by Tom English
Best New Writer -- Bounce, by Matthew Syed
Best Racing Book -- The Story of Your Life, by James Lambie
Best Illustrated Title -- '61 The Spurs Double, by Doug Cheeseman, Martin Cloake and Adam Powley

Vote HERE for your favourite book from the winners of each of the award categories at the British Sports Book Awards at and you'll be entered -- free of charge -- in a draw to win £50 of National Book Tokens. Closing date June 12th. Full terms and conditions on the voting form.


VOTE NOW

To browse more books on rugby, visit The Sports Bookshelf Shop.

Read about the other award winners.

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2011 British Sports Book Awards

THE SPORTS BOOKSHELF SPOTLIGHTS THE SHORTLISTS

PART FIVE -- BEST RUGBY BOOK
The shortlists have been announced for the ninth British Sports Book Awards, organised by the National Sporting Club. The winners will be named at a ceremony at The Savoy Hotel on 9th May.
The number of categories rises to 10 this year with the introduction of ‘best racing book’ and ‘best sports book retailer’ in addition to best biography and autobiography, best football, cricket and rugby books, best illustrated title, best new writer and best publicity campaign.
After the awards are made, the winners in each category will be entered into a public vote to find the best overall sports book of the year -- a campaign that will be supported by booksellers throughout the country in the run up to Father's Day.
The Sports Bookshelf spotlights the candidates for each prize, with links to selected reviews.

Today’s spotlight is on the Best Rugby Book award, for which the candidates are:

The Iron Duke, by Bobby Windsor with Peter Jackson (Mainstream).
Blue Blood, by Bernard Jackman (Irish Sports Publishing).
The Grudge, by Tom English (Yellow Jersey).
After the Lemons, by Kevin Coughlan, Peter Hall and Colin Gale (Montroy Media)
The Rugby Coaching Manual, by Keith Richardson (self-published)
Beware of the Dog, by Brian Moore (Simon and Schuster)


CLICK ON THE PICTURE LINKS OR TITLES TO BUY FROM AMAZON

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The Iron Duke


The no-holds-barred, warts-and-all story of Bobby Windsor, a steelworker who rose from humble beginnings to become a Welsh folk hero, a permanent member of the greatest Lions team in the history of rugby union.  His rugby career as the best hooker in the British Isles during the second golden era of Welsh rugby in the 1970s is a turbulent tale of blood and thunder on the pitch, as well as riotous incidents off it, including unscheduled fights with professional boxers, revelations about illegal payments and what Windsor did to become blackballed by one of the most famous clubs in the world.  Vividly co-written with Peter Jackson, who was the Daily Mail’s rugby correspondent for 35 years, The Iron Duke captures Windsor’s irrepressible sense of humour  on every page, yet there is dark side to the story in the form of a personal crisis that drove him to plan suicide.

Bobby Windsor…was not only technically very skilful, but also equally adept at booting or punching opponents when the referee wasn't looking, and sometimes when he was. In fairness, most of the opposition appeared to join in willingly, then, in the tradition of the day, share a pint or 10 afterwards.
-- Simon Redfern, The Independent. Read more…

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Blue Blood


Bernard Jackman played for Connacht, Sale Sharks and made 99 appearances for Leinster, winning many of the game's top accolades, including nine caps for Ireland and a Grand Slam medal in the historic 2008/2009 season.  He joined Leinster in the same year as Michael Cheika arrived as head coach, and in the next five years won a Magners League title, was voted Leinster Player of the Year in 2008, and won the Heineken Cup in 2009.  Jackman, who retired in May 2010, paints a brutally honest portrait of the Leinster dressing-room, and reveals what he saw as the tyrannical, maddening ways of Aussie coach Cheika and offers a fly-on-the-wall diary of Leinster’s brave, but doomed attempt to retain their Heineken Cup title in 2010.   Along with the highs, Jackman experienced the many lows facing professional players in the modern game, suffering multiple injuries by putting his body on the line for his sport.

Blue Blood is no literary masterpiece, but it certainly reminds the reader that top rugby players and coaches are still human beings whose lives extend beyond the 80 minutes we witness on a Saturday afternoon.  One the most insightful and courageous books ever written in the modern era of professional rugby in Ireland.
-- planetrugby.com.  Read more…

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The Grudge


Also shortlisted in the ‘Best Biography’ category, The Grudge is Scotland on Sunday journalist Tom English’s gripping account of a rugby match that became the focal point for a clash of political cultures, as Will Carling's England, the embodiment of Margaret Thatcher's Britain - snarling, brutish and all-conquering -- took on Scotland, the underdogs, the second-class citizens from a land that had become the testing ground for the most unpopular tax in living memory, Thatcher's Poll Tax.  At stake at Murrayfield, on the face of it, are the Calcutta Cup and the Five Nations Grand Slam, the biggest prize in northern hemisphere rugby. But what happens in the stadium will resound far beyond the pitch. This is the real story of an extraordinary conflict, told with astounding insight and unprecedented access to key players, coaches and supporters on both sides.

If you were there, you will want to buy this book to bring the mood and match to life again. If you weren’t and were too young, buy it to know what it was like, for we will never see quite such a day again – for good reasons as well as bad. Finally, Carling and Moore had their revenge. Neither ever lost to Scotland again, and indeed we had to wait ten years for another victory over the Auld Enemy.
--- Alan Massie, Scottish Review of Books. Read more…

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After the Lemons

A first venture into publishing for the small Bristol print company Montroy Media, After The Lemons would represent a fairytale in the finest sporting traditions were it to scoop the award. Written by Bristol-based sports journalist Kevin Coughlan and former club officials Peter Hall and Colin Gale, it tells the remarkable story of how Bath, coached by the legendary Jack Rowell, came to dominate rugby union in the 1980s and 1990s before the game went professional. It draws on club archives, contemporary reports as well as new interviews with those involved and season-by-season statistics.  Coughlan, Hall and Gale were prompted to pool their experiences after receiving an enthusiastic response to their first instalment of club history published as Before the Lemons in 2003.

So much has been made in football over the last two decades about the great sides Sir Alex Ferguson has built, strategically releasing key players and replacing them with better ones. Well we in Bath would argue Jack Rowell was doing this before Fergie got his feet firmly under the table at Old Trafford.
-- Glen Leat, rugbynetwork.net. Read more…

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The Rugby Coaching Manual


Keith Richardson, the former Gloucester and Harlequins coach, was inspired to write his own coaching manual after becoming frustrated with the technical jargon that dominates many similar books.  The result, which he published himself, is aimed at simplifying the concepts of coaching rugby for all coaches, in schools, colleges and universities and clubs right up to the level just below professionalism. In contrast with many more cerebral theories on coaching, Richardson presents ideas in a down-to-earth manner so that coaches can grasp even the most complex theories.

How refreshing to discover something packed with sound advice yet as easy to digest as a forkful of rice.  Pitched at coaches just below pro level, the book also contains illustrations to show correct technique, useful drills and tips on how to manage a training session. Richardson writes as if he were talking to the Gloucester forwards he famously coached.
--- Rugby World magazine. Read more…

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Beware of the Dog


Already acknowledged as a fine work by winning the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for 2010, the former England rugby hooker‘s searingly honest and candid life story tracks the highs and lows of a highly successful rugby career but goes much further, revealing painful memories of sexual abuse suffered as a schoolboy and the feelings of rejection he encountered as an adopted child, as well as later battles with depression and drink.  Brian Moore, or 'Pitbull' as he came to be known, established himself as one of the game's hard men and has subsequently earned a reputation as an equally uncompromising commentator, never afraid to tell it as he sees it. Also on the shortlist for 'Best Autobiography.'

The measure of the manic competitiveness of the man is revealed in this bleak, compelling book…the uncompromising candour also reveals his distinctly unlovable side — there’s no grace shown in victory or defeat, nor any remorse for the blood-spilling brutality of old-school rugby…(but) the boy can write a bit.
--- Brian Schofield, Sunday Times. Read more...

See the shortlists for Best Autobiography,  Best Biography, Best Football Book,  Best Cricket Book, Best Racing Book and Best New Writer.

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English take on epic Scottish triumph hailed as one of finest books on rugby

IN PAPERBACK


After John Carlin’s Playing The Enemy proved that a book about rugby could find an audience beyond the sport’s traditional fans -- and provided the inspiration for the movie Invictus -- Tom English repeated the trick with The Grudge.
The story of the 1990 Calcutta Cup, an epic match that not only decided the Grand Slam in Scotland’s favour but came to be symbolic of the political climate of the time, brought acclaim for English and a place on the long list for the 2010 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
It might have made the shortlist, too, had Brian Moore’s Beware of the Dog not taken pole position as the year’s outstanding rugby book.  Moore, ironically, is one of the key characters in The Grudge.
As it is, The Grudge is re-released in paperback with no shortage of endorsements.
Stephen Jones, rugby correspondent of the Sunday Times, hailed it as “the finest book written on the tournament” praising English for “an absolutely outstanding work, weaving in the strands of history, politics, sociology, dislike and tactical nous, which makes the game probably the most remarkable ever played in the grand old tournament.”
The Glasgow Herald said it was “superb ... a fantastic drama“ encapsulating the political backdrop, centred on Scottish fury at English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher‘s imposition of the poll tax, that “gave the occasion its power, its glory and its ultimate significance.”
The Scottish Review of Books called it “a marvellous book, in its way as gripping as that season and the match itself.”
Tom English is actually an Irishman, born in Limerick in 1969. He began his career at the Sunday Times in London but is now chief sports writer for Scotland on Sunday. In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was named Scottish Sports Feature Writer of the Year. 


The Grudge: Two Nations, One Match, No Holds Barred is published by Yellow Jersey Press. Click on the link to order from Amazon.


MORE RUGBY BOOKS


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Moore's black history makes compelling reading

IN PAPERBACK
_____________
RUGBY BOOKS


Beware of the Dog: Rugby's Hard Man Reveals All

The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award in November, Brian Moore’s dark autobiography was published in paperback soon afterwards and was among the best-selling sports books in the run-up to Christmas, and beyond.
And with good reason; as a candid confession from deep within the soul of a sports star, the rugby hardman’s story has few peers.
The former England hooker turned rugby writer and commentator was guaranteed to make headlines through his revelations about the sexual abuse he suffered as a schoolboy at the hands of a male teacher.   Given the popularity of so-called “misery memoirs”, Moore’s bleak and terrifying experience was an obvious selling point.
As such, even though the victim in this case has a high public profile, it is not a new theme.  What sets Moore’s tale apart -- and clearly impressed the William Hill judges -- is the depth of the author’s personal insight not merely in linking the abuse with flaws in his character but in delving into his own psychology with a frankness that leaves the reader in no doubt why he has acquired as many enemies and detractors as friends.
He does not dwell on such matters to the extent that they push the rugby into the margins and readers interested in what he achieved on the field should not feel left out yet it is the stark, at times brilliant prose with which he confronts his innermost demons that is the book’s undoubted strength.


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Click on the link to buy Beware of the Dog: Rugby's Hard Man Reveals All direct from amazon.co.uk


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Beware of the Dog lands Bookie prize for rugby tough guy Moore

A sporting life with a darker side has again found favour with the judging panel for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, who have awarded the richest prize for sports writing to the ex-England and British Lions rugby star Brian Moore.

The former hooker, known as ‘Pit Bull’ in his playing days in the 1990s, scooped the £22,000 award for his harrowing, soul-baring autobiography Beware of the Dog: Rugby's Hardman Reveals All.

Two years ago, the William Hill judges went for former England cricketer Marcus Trescothick’s autobiography, Coming Back to Me, which broke new ground in the sports book genre by discussing the depression that ended the Somerset batsman’s international career.

Moore’s memoirs are equally raw and revealing, in the most deeply personal and painful sense, bringing to light for the first time the sexual abuse he suffered as a boy at the hands of a trusted friend of his adoptive parents.

Beware of the Dog beat off competition from a strong field that included Andre Agassi‘s autobiography Open, the widely-acclaimed fishing-and-more memoir, Blood Knots, by Luke Jennings, and Duncan Hamilton’s A Last English Summer, with which the author was attempting to win an unprecedented  hat-trick of 'Bookie' prizes.

Moore was reduced to tears when he was presented with the award by broadcaster John Inverdale at the Waterstone’s store in Piccadilly, London.

"No rugby victory ever brought me to tears,” he said. “I'm astonished to have won having seen the quality of the authors.”

Bounce, Matthew Syed’s study of how champions are made, and Trautmann’s Journey, which details the story of the legendary Manchester City goalkeeper’s association with the Hitler Youth and support for the Nazi regime, were also deemed less worthy of the prize than Moore’s exploration of his troubled past.

Moore, who spent 17 years as a solicitor, has clearly gained from his more recent experience as a Daily Telegraph journalist, which has equipped him with the skills to write Beware of the Dog himself.  By contrast, Agassi’s confessional effort was ghosted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, J R Moehringer.

The rugby tough guy has described the writing as cathartic, helping him at least to begin to address the inner demons that drove him to relish violent conflict on the field as well as wreaking havoc in his private life.

His story begins at its most damaging moment, with a graphic account of his sexual abuse at the age of 10, on a school trip, by a teacher friend of his Methodist step-parents. He also describes the feelings of rejection he experienced when he learned that he had been given up by his blood mother and suggests that the self-destructive, nasty streak to which he freely admits probably has its root in those two events.

There is much in the book, too, about the rugby career that brought 64 England caps as well as three Grand Slams.  But it is the gritty honesty with which he recounts his private pain that sets Beware of the Dog apart.

Graham Sharpe, the long-time media face of bookmakers William Hill and co-founder of the prize, was unstinting in his praise for Moore’s tour de force.

“As a trained solicitor and a lover of opera, fine wine and Shakespeare, Brian Moore in no ordinary sportsman,” Sharpe said. “So it follows that this is no ordinary book. Candid and rigorous, it's a uniquely engaging book and a fascinating exploration of what lies beneath the tough exterior of one of England's greatest rugby players".

Waterstone's sports buyer Joe Browes added: "For a memoir to lift itself above the rest, the author must give something of themselves to the writing, as Marcus Trescothick did when he won the William Hill award.

“Moore displays the same honesty that made Trescothick's book so memorable and he thoroughly deserves this prize.”

Publishers Simon & Schuster responded to the news by  bringing forward paperback publication of Beware of the Dog to next week, two months ahead of the planned date in February next year.

The book reveals that Moore's years as a player were undermined by self-doubt and that acts of violence on the pitch were committed with a certain relish. In it, he further explains that retirement added a sense of loss to the other complications in his character and that he is still battling to an extent with his inner torment, although his third marriage is thankfully a happy one and his media career is flourishing.

Moore’s acceptance comments paid tribute to the support he has received from many friends in helping him through difficult times in his career and personal life.

"More than anything the fact that I'm still around to tell the story is a testament to people who helped me at times when I didn't necessarily deserve help,” he said.

“But they managed to stick with me and I hope in some way I have done them justice with the way I have covered them in the book."

For details of how to buy Beware of the Dog: Rugby's Hard Man Reveals All, simply follow the link.

For more on rugby, visit The Sports Bookshelf Shop.

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