Rugby Journal

The Rugby Journal is the home of big rugby reads. A print quarterly that not only should take pride of place on any bookshelf, but one that digs deep into rugby unlike any other publication. Within the refined pages of the Rugby Journal, the greats (from Campese and Carling to Edwards and Isherwood) share their life stories, and a truly global game is explored, be it in Chile or China, Spain or Shetland, India or the Isle of Man. Rugby clubs aren’t just covered, they’re uncovered, revealing their past, present, and future through the many voices that make them what they are. And we’re not just talking about the Cardiffs, Castres, Bristols, and Bordeauxs of this world. It’s also about the Brixhams, Merthyrs, Clontarfs, and Stirlings. Every level of the game has incredible stories to tell, and the Rugby Journal is where you find them, beautifully told by the best storytellers.

RUGBY 30 • Almost thirty years on, it feels as if all of my memories of the 1997 British & Irish Lions were of the documentary, not the actual rugby.

Rugby Journal

THE GAME • ALMOST THREE DECADES IN THE MAKING, FINN RUSSELL’S BATH ARE CHAMPIONS AGAIN, DEFEATING TIMELESS RIVALS LEICESTER TIGERS 23-21 AT THE ALLIANZ STADIUM

BENTOS • A journey that truly began when he decided to start ‘kicking shit out of public schoolboys’, ended as cult hero of the British & Irish Lions. Scorer of a famous Lions try, a Test starter in a South Africa series victory, a dual-code rugby professional, and the most famous cameraman of the late-1990s. This is John Bentley.

HARINGEY • White Hart Lane might be more famous as the home of a certain football team, but its one and only rugby club is making its mark, genuinely reflecting the diversity of the London borough, to stand out in the best possible way.

ZOE • She’s been world player of the year, a three-time domestic champion, seven-time Six Nations winner, and captained both club and country. But, without a World Cup win later this year, Zoe Aldcroft knows something will still be missing.

LONDON WELSH • Picking up glass from the park pitch before his first training session, Cai Griffiths knew this wasn’t the London Welsh he’d helped to the Premiership three years before. It literally wasn’t, it was the amateurs at level 9 who’d just finished mid-table, and he was tasked with returning this iconic rugby name back to the national leagues. Five promotions, no salaries, easy.

IDRC • THE WOMEN ON THE PITCH ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST THE UK’S NAVY, ARMY AND RAF HAVE TO OFFER, TEMPORARILY LEAVING THEIR RESPECTIVE BASES BEHIND, DROPPING RANK TO BE EQUAL TEAM-MATES, AND COMING TOGETHER AS ONE TO TAKE ON THE BEST RUGBY PLAYERS FROM THE WORLD’S MILITARY. THIS IS THE IDRC.

RUGBY PREMIER LEAGUE • This summer India is staging rugby’s first-ever franchise league: The Rugby Premier League, where Perry Baker will be passing the ball to Ajay Deswal in the colours of the Kalinga Black Tigers. For its founder bollywood filmstar Rahul Bose, it’s a dream come true. One which started at school when four girls who ‘loved blood’ visited him in hospital.

JONATHAN ‘FOX’ DAVIES • HE’D WON A GRAND SLAM, SHOULD’VE WON A WORLD CUP, AND WAS CONSIDERED AMONG THE BEST IN THE WORLD, BUT TO SOME FANS HE JUST WASN’T BRIAN O’DRISCOLL. SO MUCH SO, THEY NEEDED TO FIND JONATHAN ‘FOX’ DAVIES AND BREAK HIS LEGS.

PREMIER SPORTS • At the Champions Cup final in Cardiff, a contender to rugby’s television throne is hosting European rugby’s biggest club night for the first time, capturing the live product that will be beamed to more than one hundred countries. With a cast in the tens of thousands from cameras and crew to players and fans, doubled for two games in two nights, what could go wrong?

COACHES • IN THE YEAR OF A RUGBY WORLD CUP THAT IS SET TO BE A DEFINING MOMENT IN ENGLISH...