Martyn Williams
Описание книги
Determined, dedicated and dogmatic, Martyn Williams is the inspiring number seven lynchpin who has steered club and country to victory in inimitable style. In his action-packed autobiography, he writes for the first time about his love for the sport he has made his own.Starting out with home-town team Pontypridd, it didn't take the ginger-haired flanker long to make his mark on the national game. He made his Wales debut aged just 20 and won the Welsh league title with Ponypridd the following year, repeating the feat in his first season after joining Cardiff, who he went on to captain for three years. Twice a British Lion, he took an award-winning role in Wales' Six Nations championship Grand Slam of 2005 and then came out of international retirement to seal a second Slam in 2008. Martyn speaks for the first time about the controversial departure of Mike Ruddock as coach of the national team, the drinking culture in Welsh rugby in the early years of professionalism, the infamous Battle of Brive and why he turned down the chance to captain Wales at the 2003 World Cup. He also gives his views on the influx of southern hemisphere coaches like Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Warren Gatland, what went wrong at the 2007 World Cup and why he came out of retirement. Featuring the inside story of the 2008 Grand Slam and revealing portraits of his team-mates and opponents, this honest, witty, informative and entertaining autobiography is a must for fans and any sports lover.
Оглавление
Marty Williams. Martyn Williams
foreword
acknowledgements
Contents
the seven rides again
the red rollercoaster
losing the ones you love
the valley commandos
the battle of brive
blue (and black) is the colour
the three musketeers
the reluctant captain
the great redeemer
grannygate grief
flogging a dead lion
striking a deal
hello mr hansen
the world is watching
we’re on the way to slam-arillo
shunned by sir clive
brought to book
ruddockgate revisited
time to turn selector
career statistics. INTERNATIONAL RECORD. Wales. 1996
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
NON-CAP WALES GAMES. 1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
WALES A. 1997
1998
1999
2000
BRITISH LIONS. 2001 Tour of Australia
2005 Tour of New Zealand
BARBARIANS
CLUB/REGIONAL CAREER
Cardiff (1999–2003)
Cardiff Blues (2003–)
About the Author
Copyright
Отрывок из книги
To my wife, Sam, and our pride and joys Mia and Corey, and to the memory of my mother, Julie, and my brother, Craig.
In the early days after I took over as Wales coach, I think Martyn – or Ginge as I know him – may have thought I was an absolute so-and-so, to put it mildly. But, in the end, I think he started to understand what I was about. There were times when I didn’t play him and I know he was really disappointed. But these decisions were about looking after him and trying to lengthen his career, because he wasn’t a big man.
.....
That victory was all the more special for me for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I had taken over the captaincy after Ryan went off. Now I hadn’t had a great record as Wales skipper. In fact, I’d lost all five games in charge, which had led some of my mates to jokingly dub me ‘Captain Crap’. So it was a nice feeling to be at the helm at the end of this one and finally get a win.
I was also named Man of the Match afterwards and I was particularly pleased with that as it was my first game back at the Millennium. Things went quite well that day and I was really chuffed to get the award. It was further proof that I had made the right decision in coming back.
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