The Resurrection Men

Jan 11, 2025 4:52 AM

Author:Paul Rees

Wales were written off as no-hopers at the start of the 2008 Six Nations. They had failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals the previous October and had reacted by appointing their 13th coach in 19 years, New Zealander Warren Gatland.

On the opening weekend, success appeared unlikely when they trailed World Cup finalists England at Twickenham by ten points at half-time. Their second-half comeback, to earn their first victory at the ground for 20 years, set them on their way, and there was no looking back. In a blistering campaign, they set a new Six Nations record by conceding just two tries in their five matches.

The Resurrection Men looks back over the glorious 2008 tournament but also examines the reasons why the foundations laid by Gatland look more secure than those established by Mike Ruddock before his controversial departure from the role less than a year after the side's last Grand Slam triumph in 2005.

Wales imploded after Ruddock left, winning only one match in each of the 2006 and 2007 campaigns. His successor Gareth Jenkins asked to be judged on the team's performance in the World Cup. And he was, sacked hours after the defeat to Fiji which meant that, for the third time in five tournaments, Wales failed to make the knock-out stage.

Little more than a week later, Welsh Rugby Union officials boarded a plane to New Zealand to meet Gatland and other candidates for head coach. Just two minutes into the meeting, they were ready to offer him the job. He promised them that if Wales won at Twickenham on the opening weekend, the slam would be on. They did and it was.

Reviews

With Rees the reader is given serious value for money: he has an authoritative grasp of the political threads with which Welsh rugby is laced and he has a sound knowledge and appreciation of the history of the game

—— The Independent

'Original, passionate, thought-provoking and hugely enjoyable'

—— The Times

'Sports book of the year'

—— Radio 2

'Compelling...Glorious...Has an appeal far beyond football'

—— Guardian

'Absolutely brilliant'

—— Independent on Sunday

'Engaging and ambitious - crafted from the author's own personal story, passions and obsessions'

—— Esquire

Sports writing at its very best

—— Daily Telegraph

The football book of the year

—— Sunday Times

A love song to the North, and all the contradictions and little irritations about the region that make us love it more"

—— Yorkshire Post

Promised Land' distinguishes itself from your average football book with a framing device evoking the Exodus. This enables Clavane to elegantly and evocatively explore his own Jewishness and the influence of the Israeli diaspora on his beloved football team as well as offering a potted history of the temper and temperament of the city itself ... Clavane's vision is far from gloomy - Leeds has a knack for self-sabotage but it's eminently capable of reinvention too

—— Timeout

This "Northern love story" has as the objects of desire both the city of Leeds and its football club. Pretty often, neither attracts much affection beyond the West Riding-but Clavane digs deep and looks hard in order to explain the forces that shaped both town and team.

—— Independent

Promised Land is both an anatomy of the peculiar mass psychology of Leeds United's support (shaped by the team's multiple failures in big games) and a paean to Clavane's home town, which once nurtured a thriving Jewish subculture.

—— New Statesman

A hard-edged and searingly-honest insight into why we all bother investing so much in 11 men every weekend.

—— Loaded

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