This volume explores how rugby is played and revered in different countries and cultures. The book unfolds in the space of two years, from September 1996 to August 1998, as McRae travels across the hemispheres, moving from Britain and France to the New World, comparing the game at club, provincial and national levels. The book begins in the South Africa of McRae's youth where rugby was a byword for Apartheid. It covers the tours of the All Blacks and The British Lions in the "new" South Africa, crosses France, Britain and Ireland in the company of the Springboks and Wallabies, and ends up in New Zealand and Australia with the English and Welsh teams.