From French rugby’s origins in Le Havre, (as an English export in the late nineteenth century) to the Catalan coast, acclaimed rugby writer Peter Bills travels the length and breadth of this vast country visiting not only the big cities but those regional heartlands of the game such as Toulouse, Bordeaux and Clermont as well as clubs in the Basque country, to reveal a country whose deep love of rugby has created a culture and playing style like no other.

Featuring exclusive interviews with many of the greatest international players to have played club rugby in France, from Ronan O’Gara to Dan Carter, as well as French legends of the sport, from Serge Blanco and Jean-Pierre Rives to Antoine Dupont, Le Coq: A Journey to the Heart of French rugby brings to life the passion, colour, excitement, characters, anecdotes, locations and great moments of French rugby’s near 150 years of existence, just as it prepares to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Former French Grand Slam captain Jacques Fouroux talked of ‘Rugby; the game, the life’: this book will show you exactly what he meant.