Tackling Rugby Myths: Rugby and New Zealand Society 1854-2004

This book examines many aspects of rugby in New Zealand since about 1854, showing how rugby and identity have been bundled together for over a century, with both nation and game endowed with qualities of egalitarianism, innovation and rural pragmatism that have been promoted on the world stage. It tackles some of the very real myths surrounding this image of the game, disentangling assumptions from historical fact and coming up with some interesting angles on rugby's past.