Free Rugby Spirit by Gerard Siggins Page A

prepare for battle.
    ‘Madden,’ roared a voice from the other half of thefield, ‘You’re only a fairy.’
    Eoin looked across to see a huge, red-faced boy in the colours of Rostipp. ‘Curry’ Ryan was famous in Ormondstown for his enormous appetite and the loudest laugh in the county.
    ‘And you’re only an oversized leprechaun,’ he called back at him.
    Duffy turned and glowered at Eoin.
    ‘Shut up you culchie idiot,’ he snarled. ‘We don’t want to banter with these yokels, we want their blood.’
    Eoin turned his back on Richie Duffy and prepared for kick-off.
    Rory looked even more nervous now he had seen that the Castlerock pack wouldn’t have it their own way – even Eoin gulped as he saw how big the Tipperary twelve-year-olds were. ‘Curry’ Ryan was enormous, but even he had to tilt his head back to look at the pair of brothers who were playing in the second row.
    Eoin’s former primary school classmates, Roger and George Savage, were the youngest sons of a man who once played in goal for the Tipperary hurlers. Neither he nor his sons were the sharpest pencils in the pencil case, but he famously went two whole seasons without conceding a goal for the county. It looked like nothing much got past the sons either.
    The game started cautiously, with Castlerock taking their time to assess their opponents. Rory was careful to ensure the ball went straight to Duffy’s hands, and the out-half kicked the first three balls he received.
    ‘OK, Duffy, time to bring the backs into it,’ called out Mr Carey.
    It became clear as the game went on that Rostipp were a limited side, and that there was little pace in their backline. The forwards were strong and pushed the Castlerock pack around, but Glen Fox at hooker was very quick with the heel and Rory was getting plenty of possession.
    With ten minutes to the break Castlerock won a scrum and Rory flicked the ball quickly to Duffy, who was so surprised at how fast the ball came back that he instantly passed it on. Eoin realised that he had the ball in his hands for the first time in the game, and wasn’t going to waste a rare opportunity.
    The Rostipp centres looked nervously at each other as Eoin headed for the gap between them. He waited till the last moment when the two defenders dived, and his sidestep left the Rostipp players with only each other for company.
    Eoin was through then, and jogged over the line to touch down under the posts. Duffy converted and athalf-time the Dublin school were still 7-0 up.
    ‘I’m not too happy with this,’ griped Mr Carey, ‘We’re letting a far inferior team push us around and we’re not playing to our strengths at all. You’re getting great service from Grehan, Duffy, and you’re not getting the ball out to the wings. This can’t go on.’
    Duffy started to speak, but closed his mouth and glowered back at the coach.
    Castlerock started the second-half brightly and panicked Rostipp players gave away a string of penalties. The score stood at 16-3 to the visitors with five minutes remaining when Duffy made a huge mistake.
    The Rostipp boys were forming a line-out when Duffy called out to Charlie Johnston, ‘Get someone to sort out Rodge there – or is it Podge?’
    The Savage brothers stopped and stared at Duffy. They took a couple of steps towards him before the referee whistled and ordered them back to their positions. The atmosphere on the field changed immediately, with real tension on the Rostipp side that their team-mates would do something appalling, and real fear among the Castlerock boys that they would suffer for their captain’s stupidity.
    The ball was deflected back to Rory from the line-out , and when he found Duffy the out-half couldn’tget rid of the ball quick enough. His rapid delivery opened up more space for Eoin and after a couple of passes the ball found its way back to him. He saw a gap on the outside and went for it, sprinting along the touchline towards the try-line. Just as he got