What a little gem! This book takes in the 1905 All Blacks tour of the United Kingdom in an imagined history based on facts. Th author uses "we" in the narrative, to convey the feeling that the entire teams' experiences are being recounted. And it works.

This series of tests had a jam-packed schedule, I suppose in part because the UK is a long way away by boat from NZ, so they hoped to capitalise on the tour. The All Blacks played a lot of matches, and by all accounts absolutely trounced the opponents. Something like 976 points were scored by the Kiwi team, and only 59 points were scored against them. They championed a new way of playing rugby, seeing not the players on the opposite team as much as the spaces between them. But this book is more than sport stats, it is about the "boys", their travels, them coping with the burdens of fame, and of life on the road. It really evokes the archetypal kiwi male, and lightens up a time and a place in a special way. ( )

In August 1905, the All Blacks went to the United Kingdom to play rugby. This book is Lloyd Jones’ fictional account of that tour. If you’re a New Zealander who isn’t a rugby fan, fear not – neither am I and I really liked this book. He makes rugby beautiful and poetic. Anyway, there is surprisingly little direct commentary on rugby things, and when there is, it’s exciting. It’s much more about the reception the All Blacks got when they started walloping every team they played for the first 30 or so games, becoming celebrities, and being in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at a time when New Zealand’s ties to those places was so strong but very few New Zealanders got the chance to go back there. The writing style is sparse and it’s written from the point of view of the whole team. I loved the style. I would have liked more character development and a bit more about what happened once they came home.

Here are a couple of excerpts to give you an idea of the style. (It was hard to pick – there are lots of good bits!)

“There are other moments that need to be acknowledged, spoken of, catalogued. Moments that simply occupy time between conquests.

The walk along the chalk cliffs
he snare of history
in the whitish air
No one talking, and
because of it
quite naturally our thoughts
turning to
Vikings.

Or at Scarborough, the striped deckchairs
the ferris wheel
the buttoned-up English
Tyler’s throwing a dart
and winning a stuffed rabbit
and us throwing it round a bit
until Jimmy Duncan scratched his chin
and thought he’d mention
an error he’d seen creep into our play.”

Recommended if you… are a rugby-lover, interested in how New Zealanders’ sense of identity has developed, or like poetry in your novels. I will be moving Jones’ other books up Mt TBR. (3 1/2 stars, nearly 4.) ( )

A very different novel, much poetry and repetition but a fascinating story of a 1905 rugby team's travels and successes. ( )