I bought this book based on the reviews, and I am dissappointed. I am an intermediate player with a strong desire to improve, and possibly get into coaching after I stopped playing. I assumed that given the book's length that there would be much more detailed discussion of strategy, tactics, drills, etc. However, the book is more suited for a "coffee table". Even the description of the laws of the game at the end of the book are not very detailed, and offer no context for understanding current controversies in the sport (e.g. what should happen after a tackle, when a ruck is formed, what is permissible during rucks & mauls).
The book is loaded with pictures and the type is very large. It does describe the all of the positions and the basic mode of the play, but falls very short of helping intermediate through experienced players develop their skills, tactics, and knowledge of the rules of the game.
Buy it for the pictures or if you are new to the sport.
A little background on me: I started becoming interested in rugby when a friend from Australia talked about it. I had seen a few matches on Fox Sports World, and was interested in actually learning something about the sport.So I acquired this book. I have stumbled (I might say accidentally, as it was the only rugby book my local library branch had on the shelf) on a fantastic book about learning the game of rugby.
I started out by picking and choosing through the book like I would with most books, but quickly became lost in a dense forest of strange terminology. Rucks, mauls, line-outs, scrums, knock-ons, etc. So I started over from the beginning, and found the book delightfully easy to read, and quite explanatory. I would recommend that anybody new to rugby do the same thing. It has a huge number of great pictures, (many of them of Jonah Lomu, All-Black and now Wellington Hurricane). The pictures explain what's going on quite well. In less than a month, I knew at least as much about the game of rugby than my Australian friend who has been watching it for years (as he himself admits). It allows you to quickly scale the wall of terminology and get on to the meat of the game.
Speaking of the meat of the game, it also has a good dose of strategy. NOTE: Somebody expressed their disappointment at my review misleading him. I apologize for that, but let me be clear: I was a complete rugby novice when I read this book, not knowing the difference between a scrum and a line-out. They provide strategy useful for the kind of complete tyro that I was; what was useful for me at the time would not be for a rugby player. Some examples: in describing knock-ons it suggests when you shouldn't even try to catch the ball, and what to do instead. It also, in describing the different types of passes, talks about which would be most useful and when, and describes the role of the scrum-half. And I finally, thanks to this book's clear descriptions, understand why they always kick penalty kicks from inside their own 22 directly into touch.
I only have a few minor gripes with the book. First, it is not at all clear on penalties. It has the standard list of laws in the back, which is good, but it does not explain the laws other than that. In almost every other area of the game, its clear and descriptive text really makes the rules themselves jump out at you. There is also not even a one-page pictures of official's hand signals, which would be useful to those of us who watch games and wonder "so what's he calling now?"
Second, although it has a plethora of pictures, it does not have a single picture of a ruck. Since the difference between rucks and mauls and the associated strategies is rather important, it would have been useful to see at least one picture of what one actually looks like. And given the otherwise clear and helpful use of pictures I am surprised to find this shortcoming. (My Australian friend is also somewhat confused about rucks and mauls so I have to think confusing the distinction is not unusual. I would like to know the difference, however.) Hopefully in future editions this will be cleared up.
Finally, it would be useful to give an overview of the different types and leagues of rugby played. For example, the book is completely about Rugby Union (although it does not use the term), but it would be useful to at least admit that Rugby League exists and basically distinguish it from Union. To anybody who really knows rugby, of course, there is no confusion (my Australian friend was somewhat baffled at my confusion - "Why, they're completely different games!") but I think to newcomers the distinction needs to be made clear. It also doesn't give a lot of description of different teams and groups ("what's a Wallaby?"). To somebody who wants an overall introduction to the game and has not been around rugby all his life, descriptions along these lines would be very useful.
Other than these small nits, this is a great book and I highly recommend it to anybody wanting to learn about the game.
