Free Rugby Warrior by Gerard Siggins Page B

of the mid-term break.
    ‘Thanks, Mr Madden,’ said Dylan as the boys took their bags out of the boot of his car.
    Eoin hung back to thank his dad.
    ‘I’m glad to see things have worked out better,’ said Dad. ‘He’s a nice young fella, just needs a bit of stability in his life, I’d reckon.’
    ‘Cheers, Dad. I’ll keep in touch,’ said Eoin. ‘And try toreply to my texts!’
    ‘I will, I will,’ laughed his dad, ‘You young lads don’t know how busy life is for parents. I don’t have time to be composing texts. And to be honest, I’m not entirely sure how this new phone works either …’
    Eoin chuckled to himself as he climbed the stairs to the dormitory.
    As he turned the corner he bumped into Dylan, who was talking to Mr McCaffrey. It was a serious conversation.
    ‘Sorry. I didn’t see you,’ Eoin apologised.
    Dylan shrugged and looked at Eoin, but didn’t say a word. Eoin went into the dorm and shut the door. Alan bounced up from the bed, where he was reading a zombie comic.
    ‘Howya, Eoin, have a good break?’ he asked.
    ‘Yeah, not bad at all. Got a bit of work done. You?’
    ‘Boring. Rained a lot. Tried to start work on my project about Ancient Greece, but there always seemed to be something more interesting on TV. I watched a documentary about goats at one stage.’
    ‘Ha! Ancient Greek goats I hope? I’m pretty much done on the research for my thing so I’ll get down to writing it this week.’
    Dylan walked in just then, but besides the usual‘hellos’ he was obviously not in the mood for a chat and lay down on his bed and plugged in his earphones. Eoin noticed the music player wasn’t even switched on.
    Dylan just didn’t want to talk.
    Although he was friendly enough, Dylan still hadn’t had anything more than a basic conversation with any of his schoolmates by Wednesday afternoon, when the Under-14s lined out for their first league game.
    By coincidence, the match was against St Osgur’s, the team they had beaten in the final at the Aviva at the end of the previous season.
    ‘I’m sure these guys will be stoked about this game.’ said Mr McRae, ‘And from what I saw of them in the final they’re a nifty side. But if you stick to the basics she’ll be right. You all know your role and your responsibilities . So go out there and show them that the final was no flash in the pan – Castlerock are the best team in the province at this age group, and those guys better remember that.’
    The team cheered as the coach’s stirring words echoed around the dressing room. It was their first chance to play in the school since the Aviva, too, and there was a big turnout of boys from the older classes.
    It was clear from early on that St Osgur’s hadn’t forgotten the final and were keen to hand out some revenge. Richie Duffy didn’t help, either, singing ‘cham-pion-es, cham-pion-es’ as the ball was put into the first scrum of the game. The referee stopped play and walked over to Eoin.
    ‘Ask your opera singer to keep it zipped, please, captain ,’ he snapped.
    St Osgur’s steamed upfield and were 6-0 up within ten minutes as Castlerock, defending desperately, kept conceding penalties. The first time Duffy got the ball he foolishly tried a sidestep and run, but the visitors were only waiting for such an opportunity and he was flattened by three large forwards coming at him from left, right and centre.
    The three rose to their feet sporting huge grins as their team-mates started singing ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ before the referee waved his finger at them.
    Richie was battered and bruised, but after a couple of minutes he was ready to resume his position. While many of the Castlerock boys weren’t too fond of Duffy, and even understood why the St Osgur’s players had done it – Richie was a member of THEIR team and he needed to be protected, and avenged.
    The Castlerock pack won a series of scrums and ruckswhich took them into the opposition 22 when