The Iron Curtain

My Rugby Journey from League to Union

Nicholas Bishop, Phil Larder, Nicholas Bishop

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785311055
• Year: 2015

The Iron Curtain tells the story of rugby pioneer Phil Larder, the first coach to break through the hidden wall between rugby league and union. The journey starts with Phil's upbringing as a player, takes in the 1980s rugby league revolution he sparked as national coaching director, and his jump across the barricades to rugby union in 1997. The authors examine how rugby league ideas revolutionized the concept of defense in union and changed the face of the game forever, and discuss the scientific "quantum leaps" in analysis and conditioning under Sir Clive Woodward that led to triumph in 2003. In a book that will appeal to rugby lovers of both codes, Phil reveals the sources of his coaching inspiration, the players he loved working with, and the secrets of his defensive innovation, giving his frank views on the English Premiership and the two Lions tours in which he was involved.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• Chapter one: Watershed moments
• Chapter two: Show him the lot – the 1982 Invincibles
• Chapter three: Super-coach and the Australian way
• Chapter four: More pricks than kicks
• Chapter five: Tigers, roses and the evolution of a defence
• Chapter six: A few good men
• Chapter seven: Politics, politics, politics… and the 1999 World Cup
• Chapter eight: Becoming number one
• Chapter nine: Seeing is believing
• Chapter ten: The last thousand feet
• Chapter eleven: Now it’s our turn
• Bibliography
• Photographs