Kieran Read: Straight 8 The Autobiography by SCOTTY STEVENSON

$39.99 NZD

$49.99 (20% off)

Category: Sport

Kieran Read first played for the All Blacks as a 23-year old in 2008 and since then has amassed more than a century of test appearances in the famous jersey. Now, after a stellar provincial, club, and international career including back to back World Cup victories the New Zealand captain writes openly a nd honestly about his time in the game. Read takes to these pages with his trademark determination, lifting the lid on the unique pressures of succeeding as captain the most celebrated All Black of all time. He outlines the decisions that shaped his career and uncovers the skills of the coaches who shaped him, while offering readers an inside account of how the worlds greatest team functions and thrives. A rugby player cannot reach the pinnacle of the sport without negotiating the many avenues of adversity on the roadmap to triumph. Read unpacks the emotional toll of injury and the ignominy of defeat, neatly illustrating the intense experience of representing a rugby-obsessed nation while delivering a masterclass in how manage the many demands on the mind and on the body. Forthright and frank, Reads well-respected views on the game and its future are a must-read for rugby fans, and his take on the myriad personalities and the peccadilloes of his teammates, coaches and opponents will be sure to surprise and delight. From the playing fields of Papakura to the world champion podium, Read has faced every challenge head on. His life story is no exception. ...Show more

Richie McCaw 148 by Richie McCaw

$39.99 NZD

$69.99 (42% off)

Category: Sport

OUT NOW 148 tests, 131 wins, 110 times captain of the All Blacks, 2 Rugby World Cup triumphs, 12 successful Bledisloe Cup campaigns, 7 Tri-Nations titles, 3 Rugby Championship titlesA career so impressive that it could not possibly be chronicled in an 'ordinary' book. This lavish retrospective is somet hing special. It features over 500 photographs, close to 50,000 words and weighs in at around 3kgs.The book devotes two pages to each of the 148 tests Richie played. To complement the stunning array of images, Richie has added his own thoughts and memories of each game - from the nerves before that very first test in 2001 to the triumphs at Rugby World Cups in 2011 and 2015; from the highs of three World Player of the Year awards to concussions and other injuries that kept him from playing; from the great homes of rugby such as Twickenham and Ellis Park to the atmosphere of the All Blacks' only visit to Apia Park Stadium or Soldier Field in Chicago.McCaw has been part of rugby like no other player and led a team that dominated world rugby in his era.This book illustrates the pride McCaw and the All Blacks feel in the black jersey, the lengths they are prepared to lay their bodies on the line for their country, and the satisfaction of a job well done. It is a fitting tribute to a man regarded by many as the greatest player of all time. ...Show more

Croczilla: The Wyatt Crockett Story by STEVENSON SCOTTY

$24.99 NZD

$39.99 (37% off)

Category: Sport

In the great traditions of New Zealand prop forwards, Wyatt Crockett's stellar professional rugby career has been defined by steely determination and quiet achievement. Now, for the first time, the most capped Super Rugby player of all time is ready to tell the story of his remarkable rugby journey. Cro ckett lifts the lid on the laughs, the lows, the highs and the hilarity of his time at the top of the game. He charts his rise through the ranks of some of the nation's most famous teams and gives us an inside account of the people who shaped him, and the stories that defined him. If you thought props were all grunts and grimaces, prepare to have your perceptions called into question with this rib-tickling read. The man they call `Croczilla' offers a monster of a story, from the frontline of the game. ...Show more

Facing the Haka by Jamie Wall; Andy Burt

$49.99 NZD

$59.99 (16% off)

Category: Sport

The story of the All Blacks from the other side of halfway. Big names from all their fiercest rivals talk about meeting the world's most successful rugby team in some of the greatest tests of all time.

The Big Loop: Biking Coastal NZ by Duncan Wilson

$39.99 NZD

Category: Sport | Reading Level: near fine

In August 2015, Dunc Wilson became the first person to circumnavigate New Zealand on a bike. This 10,940 km journey followed one rule: cycle the closest available route to the coastline. The Big Loop candidly details Wilson's 240-day cycling adventure, through native bush, ragged coastlines, farm statio ns and more - demonstrating how acquainting oneself with our country is best achieved under 100 km/h. ...Show more

Beaudy: Skills, Drills and the Path to the Top by Rikki Swannell

$39.99 NZD

Category: Sport

From his upbringing with seven siblings in rural New Zealand, experiences in Ireland as a child, to his rise through the rugby ranks with Taranaki and the Hurricanes, Beauden Barrett will give an insight into what has made him the player he's become, the setbacks he had along the way and the choices he had to make. One big decision as an 18-year old changed the course of his career and, instead of being lost to New Zealand rugby entirely, set Beauden on the path towards becoming an All Black. Now widely seen as one of the best players in the game, he could have been an AFL star in Australia if it weren't for one phone call. He may have gone from high school to the All Blacks in the space of three years, but the path was far from smooth. Packed with tips and skills, along with drills for different ages and abilities to help young players progress their game, Beauden will also offer advice on how to become a better player off the field, how he learned to adapt to life as a professional sportsman at such a young age and who helped him along the way. Beaudy – Skills, Drills and the Path to the Top is an aspirational read for fans young and old. ...Show more

Robbie Deans: Red, Black and Gold by Matt McIlraith

$34.99 NZD

$49.99 (30% off)

Category: Sport

Out Now  Orders Taken Piccadilly Bookshop,enquiries ph 033584835. email shop@piccadillybooks.co.nz The career of Robbie Deans is without parallel in the annals of New Zealand rugby. He was an All Black, the pin-up boy of the Canterbury team, and a rebel with the Cavaliers during a 12-year playing car eer. Even greater acclaim has followed as one of the best coaches of the modern era. After 17 years coaching professionally, Robbie still boasts a 70 percent success rate. He remains Super Rugby's most successful coach, six seasons after his departure from the Crusaders. His influence on the All Blacks when the current era of Bledisloe Cup supremacy began was such that Richie McCaw and Leon MacDonald both say he should have been in charge rather than John Mitchell's assistant. Then he was lost to New Zealand, appointed as Australia's first foreign-born coach after his homeland controversially turned its back on him. Yet Robbie remains a personality we don't really know. For the first time, he opens up on his career: from the triumphs of his formative years, through Canterbury's glory days in the early 1980s, and the experiences that shaped the man and the coach. With the same honesty he brings to his coaching, Robbie reveals the old-fashioned values that have underpinned the Crusaders dynasty. He offers an insight into his All Black association with Mitchell and the background in his failure to land the top job himself. He also breaks the silence on his removal from the Wallabies coaching job, examining in depth five turbulent years where the systemic and cultural challenges off the field were every bit as daunting and unrelenting as was confronting the best team on the planet. From the opening accounts, which are provided by All Black Dan Carter and Wallaby David Pocock, the story is told by those who know Robbie best. It is a fascinating story of a truly great era in rugby, with detailed and frank observations at almost every turn from the players, coaches, and administrators he was most closely associated with. They know the real Robbie. ...Show more

Winx: The Full Story of the World's Best Racehorse by Andrew RULE

$36.99 NZD

Category: Sport

Winx joins Phar Lap and Bradman in the history books: a national sporting idol and the world's best racehorse.Australia's world champion racehorse Winx has become a sporting giant, transcending racing in the same way that Muhammad Ali transcends boxing and Bradman transcends cricket. She is described by her trainer, Chris Waller, as a supreme athlete--a world-class sprinter with a freakish ability to dominate longer distances "like Usain Bolt running in 1500-metre races." She is the Phar Lap of the modern age, and one of the greatest racehorses in 300 years of thoroughbred racing. In Winx: The Authorised Biography, Andrew Rule, her owners, her breeder, her trainer and her rider tell the real stories behind the world's greatest racehorse. ...Show more

Lone Wolf: How Emirates Team New Zealand stunned the world by Richard Gladwell

$27.99 NZD

$44.99 (37% off)

Category: Sport | Reading Level: near fine

On June 26, 2017, on the turquoise waters of Bermuda's Great Sound, Peter Burling (26) became the youngest ever helmsman to win the premier trophy in sailing, the America's Cup. Amongst several other firsts, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron became the first club ever to win back the America's Cup — and did so against one of the best funded and technologically astute teams in the 166-year history of the event. Along with sailing partner Blair Tuke, Burling put down another marker in sailing history to become the first crew to win an Olympic Gold medal and an America's Cup inside a 12-month period. The rookie New Zealand crew, of whom only one had previous America's Cup experience, trounced the Defender, Oracle Team USA led by the brash Australian, Jimmy Spithill who had ripped the heart out of the Kiwi sailing nation just four years before. The Second Coming is a celebration of the Emirates Team New Zealand win in Bermuda, written from an on the water perspective by one of the world's most influential America's Cup photo-journalists, Richard Gladwell, who also shot many of the images used in the 200-page book. This include images deliberately withheld prior to the Cup as they were “too revealing” of the Kiwi boat and technology. Gladwell closely followed Emirates Team New Zealand through its highs and lows after the 2013 upset in San Francisco. He captured the first images of the “cyclors” on the morning the AC50 Aotearoa was first splashed in Auckland and broke that story to the sailing world. He was in Bermuda for the 28 days of racing in the 35th America's Cup Regatta and had a ringside view of the racing from a photography boat. Gladwell was in a unique first-hand position to see the highs and lows of the New Zealand campaign and will relate how a remarkable victory unfolded. ...Show more

In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World by Danielle Clode

$39.99 NZD

Category: Sport

A voyage of discovery, nature and untold histories - in the vein of Clare Wright, Edmund de Waal and Helen Macdonald. When the first woman to circumnavigate the world completed her journey in 1775, she returned home without any fanfare at all. Jeanne Barret, an impoverished peasant from Burgundy, disgu ised herself as a man and sailed on the 1766 Bougainville voyage as the naturalist's assistant. For over two centuries, the story of who this young woman was, why she left her home to undertake such a perilous journey and what happened when she returned has been shrouded in uncertainty. Biologist and award-winning author Danielle Clode embarks on a journey to solve the mysteries surrounding Jeanne Barret. From archives, herbariums and museums to untouched forests and open oceans, Clode's mission takes her from France and Mauritius to the Pacific Islands and New Guinea to reveal the previously untold full story of Jeanne's life as well as the achievements and challenges of her famous voyage. This book is an ode to the sea, to science and to one remarkable woman who, like all explorers, charted her own course for others to follow. PRAISE FOR IN SEARCH OF THE WOMAN SAILED THE WORLD 'Clode conjures a spellbinding tale of gender, empire, natural history - and the lure of the ocean.' Yves Rees 'Seamlessly weaving together memoir, history and science ... a fascinating and deeply affecting exploration of voyaging, women's lives, and the stories we tell and the stories we don't.' James Bradley 'Biologist, historian, writer, Clode once again demonstrates the connectedness of everything - animals, land, people, plants, sea, sky - at a time when, more than ever, we should be acutely aware of it.' Gay Lynch 'A joy to read, simple yet elegant, it whispers in your ear like the sea murmuring from within a shell.' Kristen Weidenbach 'Danielle Clode unties the knots of myth and weaves a fascinating story of discovery; Jeanne Barret is one of history's most enigmatic explorers.' Nick Brodie 'Clode brings a scientific rigour and a celebration of natural history to the biography of this important woman.' Stephanie Parkyn ...Show more

Peter Snell and the Kiwis Who Flew by Vern Walker

$44.99 NZD

Category: Sport

This was the great era (1956-1965) when New Zealand middle and long-distance runners showed a clean pair of heels to the world...Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Bill Baillie, Marise Chamberlain, John Davies, Jeff Julian, Barry Magee and Neville Scott. It was a decade when 'black' signalled a tough time for opponents everywhere. Amazingly, a grand total of 23 world records or world best times were set or equalled by New Zealand runners. In the Olympic and Commonwealth Games arenas Kiwi runners won medals of every colour - gold, silver and bronze. A total of fourteen medals, with five gold medals won by the incomparable Snell. Kiwi runners climbed to the top of the podium in such far-flung places as Cardiff, Dublin, London, Boston, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, Toronto, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Cologne, Helsinki, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm, Turku, Zagreb, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It was a decade when Peter Snell and a band of Kiwi runners took on the world. ...Show more

Taking the Punches: The Life of Legendary Boxing Promotor Mike Edwards by Mike Edwards

$36.99 NZD

Category: Sport

A story of the cut-throat world of promoting in New Zealand boxing, from the 1960s to the modern era, as told by legendary trainer and promoter Mike Edwards. 'Who would want to be a boxing promoter? It's like being on a treadmill you can't get off, as you forever chase the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.' Taking the Punches is legendary trainer and promoter Mike Edwards' story, from an Otahuhu gym in the 1960s through to the height of modern era. It's a world of showmen, superstars, larger-than-life characters, brawlers, shysters, fraudsters and out-and-out criminals. Anyone who is anyone in the story of New Zealand boxing has worked with (or against) Mike, including Tuna Scanlan, Kevin Barry, Lance Revill, David Tua, Monty Betham Snr, Paul Murdoch and Joseph Parker, to name but a few. Taking the Punches is an incredible chronicle of some 60 years in boxing. '...life is always made easier by having a good man in your corner, and there are none better than Mike.' - Monty Betham Jnr ...Show more