Rugby in Focus

Rugby is a game of contrasts, a game of collisions interspersed with sublime moments of skill and poise under the severest pressure: the player's control of the ball at contact can be just as awe-inspiring as the speed and accuracy of a slickly executed backline move. Rugby is also a game of high drama: a last-minute penalty goal can equal the glory of a try-saving tackle or the powerful thrust of a scrum surging inexorably toward the try line.

The ultimate team game, rugby is also defined by its individual heroes from different generations, who, through their skills and courage, pushed the game forward. Their feats live on long in the memory thanks to a fleeting moment captured on film. The skill of the photographer is to know and love the game enough to anticipate the remarkable and capture through his trained eye that moment for posterity.

Rugby in Focus is a visual, historical record of the development and growth of the game, with background to more than a century of the most successful teams and the greatest matches, and a players' hall of fame. This story is told in over 250 photographs from the vast archives of the Press Association, whose photographers were on hand to capture some of the finest moments of the sport.