In Search of Will Carling

This is an account of the journey undertaken by three upper-class English rugby fanatics, from London to South Africa, to see the 1995 Rugby World Cup. This book, as well as being a travelogue, analyzes the spirit of rugby, its essential Englishness, and how flimsy Old World values are today.

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In October 1994, Red Walsh from the west coast of Ireland, British cavalry officer George Wilson-Fitzgerald, photographer Emma Tindal and author and journalist Charles Jacoby set off from London to drive to the Rugby World Cup in Africa. It was a journey taking seven months over 16,000 miles, and taking them through swamps and deserts. This is the story of their trip, of the helpful and unhelpful people, animals and events that they encountered. It is an account of oddball, upper-class Englishmen and a diminutive Irish girl descending into the scorching remains of the former Empire, with only the World Cup as their beacon.