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Nine Lives

Nine Lives

by Matt Dawson

Collins Willow $124

Cocky, arrogant, brilliant. At times, scrum-half Matt Dawson has been described as all of these, yet he'll go down in history as one of only two Englishmen to have won rugby world cups in both the seven-a-side and 15-a-side versions of the game. In this routine autobiography, he relives his defining moments, from club rugby at Northampton and career-threatening injury to an incendiary tour with the Barbarians and a World Cup triumph for England. He comes across as rampantly adversarial. No regrets for slamming Graham Henry's coaching regime on the 2001 Lions tour; no softening of his opinions on Corne Krige, the former South African captain who tried to decapitate him in a match at Twickenham two years ago; no reconciliation with Budge Pountney, a former Northampton captain with whom he fell out.

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