South Africa is a land of contrasts, as the tourist brochures promise,
and this is true for the game of rugby. From the Pretoria heartland to
the aspirant Eastern Cape, from the hardscrabble Cape Flats to the
islands of privilege at Bishops and Grey College. No other rugby-playing
nation has to grapple with so much diversity. Different languages,
classes, races and cultures - each bearing the wounds of the country's
fractured past - have to be melded into winning teams. Liz McGregor has
spent the past three years shadowing Currie Cup, Super 14 and Springbok
teams across the country, and has come to the conclusion that it is this
very diversity, combined with the pain of the past and the dreams of a
great united future, that provide the elusive alchemy that separates a
good team from a great one. Touch, Pause, Engage! is more than a book
about rugby. It is an intimate look at how South Africa's erstwhile
elite is adapting to its new circumstances. Team South Africa has been
through many a maul and bruising scrum, but is inching closer and closer
to the tryline.