Customer Reviews
fascinating insider's look at the sport - By: David W. Straight, 24 May 2008 
John Daniell talks mostly here about a year with the Montpellier team, recently promoted to the first division, but always struggling to avoid relegation to the second division. Daniell is in his middle 30's, & has passed his prime: this will be, in fact, his last year as a professional rugby player. The book dscribes the players, the personalities. the fans, the owners, etc. The top clubs have the largest payrolls, & hire the top professionals--the one downside here is that often these players are callled for Cup matches & other tournaments, & so may not be available for the club matches. Everything is taken very seriously.
The book recounts the injuries. "La fourchette" is colloquial for "eye-gouge", a popular & effective tactic in rucks & scrums with only one referee present. Daniell has resorted to la fourchette on occasion himself. The book notes that good sportsmanship is known to the French as "le fairplay"--there is no native French word for the concept. Daniell describes his own injuries over the years--a dozen broken noses, ruptured eardrum, dislocated collarbone, cauliflower ears, & more. He considers himself relatively injury-free compared to most pros. He says that of the 600 professional rugby players in France (many, like himself, are non-French), about 100 are out with injuries at any given time. If you watch rugby DVDs you'll see a lot of heavily-bandaged ears--bites, boots, elbows, etc, have not been kind.
Daniell writes very well, & has a fine self-deprecating sense of humor. He understands that he was never a star, but rather a decent journeyman lock, & there are plenty of younger, fitter players who want his job. Getting to the end of the line--usuallly in your early- or mid-30's, can often be cruel. Daniell describes a former pro whose boss offered him a job filling ice buckets at 5% of his former salary. Daniell's book reminds me of a wonderful baseballl movie Bull Durham, with Kevin Costner & Susan Sarandon. It's about life in the minor leagues, scripted with detail & attention by Ron Shelton, himself a former minor league baseballl player. There is no exciting pennant race--it's about a struggle for survival, & being able to finish with some dignity. Inside French Rugby has much the same flavor of survival & dignity, & being able to try to make a graceful exit. Daniell has enormous talent, both as a writer & as an observer, & Inside French Rugby exemplifies those talents.
