Champagne Rugby

by Henri Garcia, Roger Grime (Translator)

The 1950s was the Golden Age of French Rugby League. After being banned by the collaborative Vichy regime during the Second World War, the sport quickly rebuilt and in 1951 a French rugby league team toured Australia for the first time. Playing flowing, attacking rugby, they shocked the Australians with a decisive victory in the test series. Their famous full-back, Puig Aubert, broke the points scoring record for a tourist.In 1955, France again defeated the Australians, and in 1960, with a squad hit by injuries, drew the test series. This book is the story of those famous tours and also gives a French viewpoint on the game’s origins. First published in 1960, and produced here for the first time in English, it is a wonderful record of three great French teams.The author, Henri Garcia, was the rugby league correspondent of L’Equipe, and covered all three tours for that newspaper.With a comprehensive statistical record, all rugby league fans will enjoy this fascinating book.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2007