Blog Archives

Secrets of the All Blacks not all that secret, Spiro Zavos

The Jersey: The Secrets Behind the World’s Most Successful Team
Peter Bills
Pan Macmillan, $38.00,
ISBN 9781509856688

Murdoch: The All Black Who Never Returned
Ron Palenski
Upstart Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781988516127

The cultural historian E H McCormick once noted that the only genuine masterpiece created in New Zealand was the Māori carved war canoe. The argument can be made that the national men’s rugby team, the All Blacks, can be added to McCormick’s list.

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Fifty years on, Spiro Zavos

The Team that Changed Rugby Forever: The 1967 All Blacks
Alex McKay
New Holland Publishers, $35.00,
ISBN 9781869664725

 

On the afternoon of the first test between New Zealand and the British and Irish Lions, the 1967 All Blacks held a reunion in the Barbarians room at Eden Park. The reunion marked 50 years from the team’s epic unbeaten tour of Britain and France. A photo was taken of the 11 survivors who could make the journey to Auckland. It is a poignant portrait of a famous group of the boys of winter in the winter of their years. 

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The Richie McCaw of golf caddies, Spiro Zavos

Out of the Rough Steve Williams with Michael Donaldson Penguin, $40.00, ISBN 9780143573555   Here is Adam Scott, the languid Australian golfer, on the second playoff hole of the 2013 Masters. He has hit his second shot to the green.

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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review

It’s a knockout, Spiro Zavos

Fighting Talk: Boxing and the Modern Lexicon Bob Jones Random House, $30.00, ISBN 9781775534389 Bob Jones – aka Sir Robert – has written an engrossing book on the fight game. It is satisfying intellectually and emotionally. It involves an original

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Magnificent obsession, Spiro Zavos

Graham Henry: Final Word Bob Howitt HarperCollins, $50.00, ISBN 9781869509736 Here is an heroic assertion. Graham Henry is the greatest coach in the history of rugby. His rivals for this title include Danie Craven, Carwyn James, Fred Allen and, possibly,

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport

How the ball will bounce, Garth Baker

How to Watch the Rugby World Cup 2011 Spiro Zavos Awa Press, $30.00, ISBN 9781877551093   How timely – a book to help desperate All Black fans get through that most harrowing of experiences, the Rugby World Cup. Despite being

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Never the whole truth, Spiro Zavos

Truth: The Rise and Fall of the People’s Paper Redmer Yska Craig Potton Publishing, $49.99, ISBN 9781877517303   During most of 1979 I lived with my family in Menton, in the south of France, trying to write the Great New

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Posted in History, Media, Non-fiction, Review

A straight left to the nose, Spiro Zavos

From Poverty Bay to Broadway: The Story Of Tom Heeney Lydia Monin  Hodder Moa, $39.99, ISBN 9781869711252 You play rugby and a host of other sports that have a greater or lesser degree of body contact in them. But you

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport

Warrior courage, Spiro Zavos

Against the Odds: Matt Te Pou and Maori Rugby Matt Te Pou and Matt McIlraith Huia, $40.00, ISBN 1869692519 In the early winter of 1952 a frisson spread around the campus of St Patrick’s College, Silverstream: a brilliant young Maori

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sport

Remorse in the stands, Susan Bartel

Jonah: My Story Warren Adler Hodder Moa Beckett, $35.50, ISBN 1869589793 How to Watch a Game of Rugby Spiro Zavos Awa Press, $19.00, ISBN 0958250936 First sentence: “The booing and the jeering of the Wellington crowd rang in my ears.”

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Sport
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