Being Barbarians

Before the summer of 2022, Ireland had never beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand. Using behind the scenes footage and interviews with players and coaches this documentary reflects on the experience of triumphing in New Zealand for the first time.

A journey through the golden age of Spanish rugby, from the late eighties to the early nineties: the incredible story of men who, with hard work, effort and perseverance, proved that any goal can be achieved.

Exclusive two-disc film documenting the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in the summer of 1997. The unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the team shows the preparations, the training, the fun, the team selection, the 'earthy' language, the bonding, the awesome task of playing and some shocking footage of injuries. Despite securing the series with wins in the first two tests, the Lions remained motivated by the prospect of a 3-0 whitewash, a feat never achieved against the Springboks throughout the century.

The story of the first black South African rugby captain who against all odds led the South African national team to win the 2019 World Cup Rugby and in turn unites the country.

Soldiers representing South Africa and New Zealand billeted in London get stuck in during a rugby fixture in Richmond Park.

A behind the scenes look at the sport of rugby with the 2015 Rugby World Cup as a backdrop, featuring interviews from players, coaches, referees and fans.

In 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team disappeared into the Argentinean Andes. Now, 50 years after one of the greatest ordeals of survival in recorded human history, the full story is finally comprehensively told through the words of each of those who lived it.

Quadriplegics, who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs, overcome unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Rugby Union has long been viewed in South Africa as a game for the white population, and the country’s success in the sport has been a true source of Afrikaner pride. When the 50-year-old policies and entrenched injustices of apartheid were finally overthrown in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s new government began rebuilding a nation badly in need of racial unity. So the world was watching when South Africa played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Though they had only one non-white player, the South African Springboks gained supporters of all colors as they made an improbable run into the final match where they beat the heavily favored New Zealand team. When Mandela himself marched to the center of the pitch cloaked in a Springbok jersey and shook hands with the captain of the South African team, two nations became one. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman and director Cliff Bestall will tell the emotional story of that cornerstone moment and what it meant to South Africa’s healing process.

In a closed locker room, rugby players perform the last pre-match rituals. Warming up their souls and bodies, all tense in anticipation of the fight.