Author:Shane Williams,Delme Parfitt
Shane Williams has spent almost a decade thrilling the rugby world with his evasive running skills and a box of tricks that has left the best defences grasping thin air, disproving the notion that size matters in modern professional rugby. He's been called the little wizard, the artful dodger and a whole host of other superlatives, and wherever Williams has played, the crowd have been on the edge of their seats.
As his teenage years came to an end, Williams looked set for a life of relative obscurity playing scrum-half for his local side, Amman United, and scratching around in a variety of day jobs. All that changed, however, when he was plucked from nowhere by then Neath coach Lyn Jones, and his rise to become Wales's most dangerous strike runner was meteoric. Following his international debut aged 21, Williams lit up Wales's 2003 World Cup campaign and went on to become an integral part of the Grand Slam-winning side of 2005, a year in which he also toured with the British Lions to New Zealand. In 2008, when Wales took the Grand Slam once more, he made a sensational contribution to the side's glorious victory.
After leading the great Bryan Habana a merry dance on the way to two mesmerising tries on Wales' tour to South Africa just two months later, Williams became the first Welshman crowned IRB World Player of the Year that autumn. He then completed the 2008-09 season with a second Lions tour, touching down twice in the 28-9 third Test victory against the Springboks.
In Shane, Williams reveals the inside story of his incredible rugby career so far, the personal trials that have come with success and how he has managed to defy the odds to become a living Welsh rugby legend.
Evocative reading
—— ObserverHer wry sense of humour is one of the great charms of Lone Traveller
—— Daily TelegraphCarter wields a sharp pen, and draws blood from a number of key figures he feels were flawed . . . explosive . . . revelatory
—— Book of the Week , Independent on SundayThrilling, insightful and often humourous . . . [Kimball] captures the contests, the fighters and the period with a wonderful perception
—— The IndependentAn intoxicating, captivating tale of great boxers in a fatally flawed environment
—— The HeraldA flawless and singular account of fights that remain potent and important decades after the final bell . . . Four Kings will, unquestionably, be ranked as a classic boxing book that will take future generations back to those smoky, raucous ringside nights in Vegas
—— Irish TimesFight fans wanting a good read on their summer holidays should grab a copy
—— Colin Hart , The SunCertainly the best value of any book out there at the minute as well as being comfortably among the best . . . probably the best boxing book since Kevin Mitchell's War, Baby
—— Sunday TribuneA born storyteller, [Kimball] throws in enough yarns and anecdotes to fill three or four books
—— Sunday Business Post