Free Rugby Flyer by Gerard Siggins Page A

came.
    Eoin made his way down to the advertising hoardings that surrounded the ground and called Dylan over. ‘Well played, bud, it’s great to get started with a win,’ he told his friend.
    ‘Yeah, it was a tough game, though,’ said Dylan, showing Eoin the bruises which were starting to come up on his rib cage. ‘Where are you guys staying?’
    Eoin explained about the posh school and then looked around behind him to check no one was in earshot.
    ‘Listen, Dyl, it happened again – I’ve seen a ghost. The same lad we saw in the haunted house back home. He’s here, up in the main stadium!’
    Dylan was stunned, and also checked behind him for eavesdroppers.
    ‘What are you going to do? Can we go back and see him again?’
    ‘I don’t know. I have a team meeting later and Leinster’s first match is in the morning. Let’s leave it till tomorrow afternoon. We can take a look around that museum and see if we can find out more about this Alexei Obolensky.’

C HAPTER 21
    T he Leinster team had a good run out the next day against Bath, winning 19-10. There were players and coaches from all the Irish provinces at the Stoop and they were delighted that all four now had started the tournament with a victory.
    Eoin and his pals had sat out the game, and most of the other teams were adopting a similar policy. ‘I suppose they’ll pick the best players from the two Leinster teams if we get to the semi-final,’ said Charlie.
    ‘You’re probably right,’ said Eoin. ‘They can’t really do it any other way. I doubt if I’ll be picked after calling Ted “rubbish” though.’
    The coach took Eoin’s team for a run around the Stoop and a chat about tactics. As they were leaving he tossed a ball to Eoin. ‘You’ll need some serious practice here to get the lines right. Nicholson, Reeves, can you stay and collect the balls for him?’
    Killian and Páidí didn’t mind helping out, and Eoin fired over dozens of kicks before the teams for the next game started their warm-ups and he had to get out of the way. He was happy that Ted had suggested the session, as there was a definite tug on the ball from one corner of the ground and he needed to adjust his kicking line.
    The boys strolled back up to the main Twickenham Stadium, where they met Dylan. The others wanted to go back to the school so made their farewells, but Eoin and Dylan went for a sandwich in one of the cafés around the ground.
    They chatted about the places where they were staying, and who they had met. Dylan had got very friendly with the Connacht boys, who were the most popular in the school they were billeted. Then their conversation moved back to the ghost Eoin had met.
    ‘Tell me about this Hopalongski fella,’ Dylan asked.
    ‘Obolensky,’ said Eoin, slowly. ‘He’s a Russian lad, I think, which was why he was down in Tipperary. He said the house belonged to his Uncle Nick.’
    Dylan nodded at Eoin, still stunned by what he was hearing.
    ‘He must be some sort of rugby legend though because the restaurant we were in yesterday is calledObolensky’s,’ Eoin went on. ‘I didn’t get a chance to ask him about that, though.’
    ‘I suppose we could find out more in the museum,’ suggested Dylan.
    ‘Yeah, I reckoned that. We’ll head there after this,’ said Eoin. ‘He asked me something about a treasure as well. He seemed a bit annoyed because he thought that I was looking for it too, but I hadn’t a clue what he was on about. If it was in the Lubov mansion it was probably stolen years ago – or very well hidden.’
    The boys finished their lunch and walked around to the World Rugby Museum. They flashed their tournament player badges and were delighted to be waved through free of charge. Eoin walked straight to the display he had been looking at the day before.
    ‘That’s him,’ he told Dylan as he pointed to the video screen showing Alex scoring a try. They watched as he collected the ball ten metres inside his own half and cut