Author: Ryan, Ben FijiPublished on 30 May 2019 by Orion Publishing Co (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) in the United Kingdom.Paperback | 320 pages197 x 121 x 25 | 294g WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019Brutally honest . . . A moving, candid tale of a coach taking the plunge with a rugby ball as his only buoyancy aid DAILY EXPRESSAn engrossing account of a remarkable story EVENING STANDARDAn excellent read covering a brilliant journey Sir Clive WoodwardIt is late summer 2013. Ben Ryan, a red-haired, 40-something, spectacle-wearing Englishman, is given 20 minutes to decide whether he wants to coach Fijis rugby sevens team, with the aim of taking them to the nations first-ever Olympic medal. He has never been to Fiji. There has been no discussion of contracts or salary. But he knows that no one plays rugby like the men from these isolated Pacific islands, just as no one plays football like the kids from the Brazilian favelas, or no one runs as fast as the boys and girls from Jamaicas boondocks. He knows too that no other rugby nation has so little - no money and no resources, only basic equipment and a long, sad history of losing its most gifted players to richer, greedier nations.Ryan says yes. And with that simple word he sets in motion an extraordinary journey that will encompass witchdoctors and rugby-obsessed prime ministers, sun-smeared dawns and devastating cyclones, intense friendships and bitter rows, phone taps and wild nationwide parties. It will end in Rio with a performance that not only wins Olympic gold but reaches fresh heights for rugby union and makes Ben and his 12 players living legends back home.
