Inside the Cup: Secrets behind our All Black campaigns

Inside the Cup: Secrets behind our All Black campaigns

Phil Gifford

Penguin; RRP $40.00

‘You can’t make this stuff up,’ says self-confessed rugby tragic, Phil Gifford.

‘We’ve had triumphs, we’ve had heroes, we’ve had villains and deep dark disasters. It has all the ingredients of any great melodrama of operatic proportions, but it’s not fiction.’

As the stage is set and we sharpen our focus on the build-up to another tournament, which sees the world’s greatest rugby teams contest for the

William Webb Ellis Cup, comes Phil Gifford’s Inside the Cup. 

Gifford offers us the most personal, revealing, human look ever at the All Blacks World Cup campaigns, which continue to grip New Zealand every four years and see a spike in coronary-related issues presenting at A&E clinics around the country.

Phil has reported at every World Cup. He knows the people, he knows the secrets, and his deep knowledge allows him to uncover stories even the most passionate rugby fan will be unaware of.

A rich, detailed portrait of the people behind the All Black triumphs and heartbreaks, Inside the Cup bursts with fascinating revelations.

Were the All Blacks poisoned in 1995? What changed the minds of the New Zealand Rugby Union board about reappointing Graham Henry in 2007? Was Taine Randell out of his depth as captain in 1999? You’ll learn why coach Brian Lochore decided the 1987 squad would be the first, and only, All Blacks to ever be billeted. Between matches the players went two-by-two to stay on Wairarapa farms. Was the division between co-coaches John Hart and Alex Wyllie the reason the All Blacks failed to make the final in 1991? Startling evidence suggests that was only a part of the story.

By putting a human face on the people who made the stories, rugby fans will get a deep, true understanding of what makes a successful campaign, and what can lead to failure.

As Sir Graham Henry says in his foreword to the book, rugby has been part of creating the history and fabric of New Zealand for 120 years, so the World Cup is hugely important to us. 

Inside The Cup puts our Cup history in context, and, as it gets us closer to our heroes, lets us relive the excitement and the emotions with our World Cup All Blacks both on and off the field.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A prolific writer and broadcaster, Phil Gifford has reported on every Rugby World Cup since 1987, and will be in Britain to cover the 2015 tournament.

He has won nine New Zealand radio awards, has twice been judged New Zealand sportswriter of the year, and three times New Zealand sports columnist of the year. He has also won two Dulux national print awards for news reporting, in 1976 (on the Captaine Bouganville shipwreck) and 1981 (on the Springbok tour). In 1973 Phil invented the satirical rugby character Loosehead Len, and wrote his columns for 32 years. 

He continues to write a column in the Sunday Star-Times, and in 2014 was a member of the Fairfax Media team at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2010 Phil was honoured with the SPARC lifetime achievement award for services to sports journalism.

Inside the Cup is Phil’s 25th book, biographies of Joe Stanley, Grizz Wyllie, Mike Brewer, Peter Fatialofa and Todd Blackadder among his previous works. His own memoir, Loose Amongst the Legends, was named one of the biographies of the year in the New Zealand Listener’s 100 best books of 2014. Phil lives in Auckland, with his wife Jan.