Behind the Silver Fern

The story of playing rugby for New Zealand as told by the players.

Go behind the scenes with the world's most successful sports team. This is a complete history of rugby's most famous yet enigmatic team, the New Zealand All Blacks, told by the men who have had the honour of wearing the iconic black jersey. From the legendary 1905 'Originals' all the way through to Richie McCaw's record-breaking back-to-back World Cup champions of 2015, this is a history of the All Blacks like you have never experienced it before.

Thanks to exhaustive archival research and exclusive new material garnered from a vast array of interviews with players and coaches from across the decades, Behind the Silver Fern unveils the compelling truth of what it means to play for the team that has dominated Test match rugby for over a century - all the trials and tribulations behind the scenes, the glory, the drama and the honour on the field, and the passionate friendships and bonds of a brotherhood off it. Absorbing and illuminating, this is the ultimate history of New Zealand rugby - told, definitively, by the men who have been there and done it.

About the Author

Tony Johnson is a household name in New Zealand as a rugby commentator, TV sports presenter, rugby writer, journalist and radio broadcaster. He has covered Test match, Super Rugby and domestic rugby in New Zealand since 1987 as well as a variety of other sports from the Olympics and Commonwealth games to golf and tennis. He lives in Auckland.

Lynn McConnell is one of New Zealand's foremost sports historians with over 17 books to his name. He is the editor in New Zealand of the website sportal.co.nz and has an extensive career in newspaper journalism having been Sports Editor of The Evening Post in Wellington and earlier the Sports Editor of the Southland Times in Invercargill. He lives in Auckland.