Rugby Rookie

the ninth book in the tremendously popular Eoin Madden series and this one finds our hero as the youngest player on the senior cup team. His ghost this time is George Hall Stack, the first ever captain of Ireland. The brilliance of the series is in the way Siggins is able to combine historical depth with boy’s own adventures and this is no exception

-- Irish Times - Malachy Clerkin’s Best Sports Books of the Year

mix of contemporary and historical in this series blends successfully into a pacy read for young sports fans

-- Irish Examiner

Siggins’s brilliantly sharp sense of humour comes to the fore once again … even older readers will find this a rip-roaring read

-- Irish Daily Mail

Eoin Madden makes a well-timed return in Gerard Siggins’ Rugby Rookie

-- The Echo

for young sports enthusiasts – especially those with an interest in rugby – there’s plenty to get their teeth into here … These books are a quick, fun read and a fantastic opportunity for sports and reading enthusiasts to tap into a great story with some genuine rugby pedigree

-- Inis Magazine

The ninth offering in Gerard Siggins’s Rugby Spirit series follows the further adventures of young rugby prodigy Eoin Madden, as he struggles to make the step up to the senior cup team. In keeping with the themes and storylines of the previous instalments in the series, there’s also adventure, intrigue and paranormal encounters to contend with. For young sports enthusiasts – especially those with an interest in rugby – there’s plenty to get their teeth into here. An added bonus is the story’s connections with the history of the sport; young readers will no doubt be eager to educate their friends that, for example, the game originally used to have twenty players on a team ... the characters are authentic and relatable and there is plenty of derring-do, both on and off the field ... These books are a quick, fun read and a fantastic opportunity for sports and reading enthusiasts to tap into a great story with some genuine rugby pedigree

once you read one of the Eoin Madden books you just have to read them all. Any sports-mad boy or girl aged nine years old or upwards would love this book, and the good news is it’s a part of the series

-- Irish Daily