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Behind the Scrum

The Autobiography

Kyran Bracken

England's World Cup scrum-half reveals his astonishing battles to cope with the pressures of top-level sport - an honest, revealing and funny memoir to compare with Tony Cascarino's FULL TIME and Simon Hughes's A LOT OF HARD YAKKA.

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Reviews

  

At the age of 22, Kyran Bracken made his England debut in the toughest imaginable circumstances, taking on the formidable All Blacks. From the start he was targeted by the opposition, but he battled on through the painful knocks to help his side to a rare victory. Things didn't get any easier in the rest of his career.

For years, he was competing with first Dewi Morris and then Matt Dawson for England's No 9 shirt, yet still he managed to win 51 caps. But that was not his most difficult battle: there were chronic back problems that put him out of the game for months on end, and psychological demons that had a huge impact on his life.

Bracken's story is not a simple one of games played and victories won; it is a moving account of one man's struggle with himself, brilliantly told by one of rugby's most intelligent and charming characters. It is more than a rugby story, but a tale of triumph over adversity that can appeal far beyond the rugby market.

 


'This is far and away the best autobiography to hit the bookshops for quite some time. It is thoughtful, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining; well-written and with an original approach. It cannot be recommended highly enough.'

THE INDEPENDENT

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Behind the Scrum-The Autobiography

Buy Behind the Scrum from Amazon
£18.99
Hardback
304 pages
234 x 156 mm
ISBN-10: 0752868446
ISBN-13: 9780752868448
Publication: October 2004
'behind the scrum' is also available in paperback format
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