Product Description

As the longest-serving national coach in Irish rugby history, Eddie O'Sullivan produced a team that rose to third in the world rankings and laid down the standards for the team to fulfil its Grand Slam potential. Added to the three Triple Crowns he won in his six-year reign and the Corkman ought to enjoy legendary status in his homeland. But the reality has been rather different for O'Sullivan. In fact, few figures in Irish sport divide opinion quite like the man who coached the so-called 'golden generation' of Irish rugby through seven Six Nations' Championships. Ireland's abject performance at the '07 World Cup in France prompted extraordinary levels of criticism and O'Sullivan took the brunt of it. His team had gone to the tournament considered among the favourites for the title after a storming Six Nations tournament in which they slaughtered England by thirty points on an emotion-charged day at Croke Park. Indeed, O'Sullivan was thought at the time to be a likely Lions coach for the '09 tour to South Africa. Yet, Ireland failed to get out of the so-called 'Group of Death' and that failure precipitated O'Sullivan's fall. Here, for the first time, he talks of the spectacular unravelling of confidence within probably the best Irish team in history and the vitriol it decanted. He talks candidly of the bizarre rumour mill that followed the Irish team through that World Cup tournament and takes us behind the scenes of a story that tossed an entire nation into mourning. O'Sullivan writes with surprising candour about his relationships with his successor as Irish coach, Declan Kidney, and indeed his predecessor, Warren Gatland. He describes his early struggle for recognition in the Irish game when the absence of a traditional rugby background militated against him. His autobiography flies in the face of so many stubborn preconceptions. O'Sullivan pulls no punches on the people he rates in rugby and the people he doesn't. Hear the story of the rise of one of Irish rugby's great outsiders and, ultimately, his crushing fall.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29960 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

An excellent sports biography
History will probably be a lot kinder to Eddie O'Sullivan as Ireland Coach than a lot of contempoary material ever will be. For those who remember the dire straits Irish rugby found itself in during the 90s, O'Sullivan's tenure as coach was a welcome relief with silverware and attractive rugby. This review isn't interested in the debate around Eddie and the extent to which his version of events is right or wrong, fundamentally circumstances were often racked by some degree of contraversy and a review on Amazon isn't the place to unpick that debate. Instead this review will seek to review the themes of the book and its standing amongst other sports biographies.

First of all the book offers a unique opportunity, much like with Ronan O'Gara's biography to get inside the mind of a private individual. A theme of the book is often Eddie's poor relationship with the media (a recurring theme in the book), which in turn kept him something of an enigma to fans. The opportunity to understand how he saw events is great. This is made even better by getting a chance to get the inside info on his relationship with Warren Gatland and Declan Kidney as well as Ireland's implosion at the 2007 World Cup. In fairness Eddie takes a lot of the blame on himself and it is a shame that his failure at the World Cup overshadowed his other acheivements as coach. I won't spoil the book by discussing these further, but it does make for some interesting reading!

The second opportunity the book offers, is the chance to really absorb the impact of professionalism in the game, O'Sullivan goes back to his youth days, through his club careers and representation of Munster right through to his first stint in America, his time with Connacht and his career with Ireland, and even the 2005 Lions Tour. In some respects the book does succeed in capturing the essence of the whole professionalism versus amateurism debate, and O'Sullivan's insights on how coaching developed through the period, a topic not really extensively discussed in current biographies, which have focused on player experiences.

I think the third opportunity the book offers is the chance for O'Sullivan to fight back against his critics - something he deserves the right to do, and which makes for interesting reading.

All in all a great read for either an Irish Rugby Fan or Sports Fans in general...