Rugby Flyer by Gerard Siggins

final whistle brought even more delight for the team in blue.

C HAPTER 25
      T ed was full of praise for the second-half performance and said his team would think carefully about who they would select for the semi-final in two days’ time. He ordered all thirty-three players to take it easy for the rest of the day, with recovery important for the task ahead. The squad met up later at the school swimming pool and spirits were still very high.
    ‘Still 100 per cent, eh, Eoin?’ laughed Charlie as he jumped into the pool, splashing the out-half.
    ‘Easy, Charlie,’ answered Eoin, ‘a big oaf like you could cause a tsunami like that.’
    The two squads were mixing together more now that they had both ensured Leinster were in the semi-final. Eoin sat on the edge of the pool with John Young, his rival for the No.10 shirt.
    ‘No matter who gets picked we won’t fall out,’ John laughed. ‘And I have no doubt that it’s going to be you.
    Your kicking has been incredible.’
    ‘Well, kicking isn’t everything,’ replied Eoin. ‘And there are very few players in the team with your turn of pace and power running with the ball.’
    ‘Maybe, but this next game will be a real grudge match…’
    ‘Why?’ asked Eoin, ‘Who are we playing?’
    ‘Didn’t you hear?’ asked John. ‘Ted just came in with the result from group C. There was a bit of a shock in the last game. We’ll be playing Munster.’
    Eoin was stunned. Not at the result, because he knew his native province were always capable of pulling out a winning performance, but that his greatest fear coming to London had now come to pass.
    ‘Oh no, that’ll be a tough one,’ he winced.
    His mind raced as he imagined what it would be like to play against Dylan, and Curry Ryan, and the Savage brothers. He could handle the banter, and even the extra attention he was sure he would get from their tacklers, but he knew he would find it hard to regard that red shirt as an enemy.
    After dinner he went straight to the dorm and fished the biography out of his bag. He wanted a bit of escapism, so he lay down on his bed to read and drifted off to sleep with his head full of glorious Ireland andLeinster victories of the past.

    Next morning the boys were taken on an excursion into the centre of London. Ted told them he wanted them to forget about rugby until they had a run-around in the Stoop at four o’clock. He ordered them to enjoy the trip and everyone obeyed as they took in the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral before finishing with a trip in the London Eye, a giant wheel that soared slowly above the city and gave the best views short of strapping yourself to a seagull.
    The boys picked out all the sights, and were thrilled to see Wembley and the Olympic Stadium and the Oval cricket ground. It was a little misty when they reached the top so they couldn’t see Twickenham, but as Charlie said, ‘We’ve seen enough of that already.’
    The trip was a great success in taking the boys’ minds off rugby, but mention of Twickenham brought it all back to them, and the talk all the way back in the bus was of who would be selected for the semi-final against Munster.
    Ted put them out of their misery at the meeting in the Stoop. He stressed that everyone had played animportant part in getting the team through the group, and that everyone would still be in the shake-up if they went any further in the competition.
    ‘But only fifteen boys can start the semi-final against Munster, and they are…’ he said, reading down the list attached to a clipboard.
    Eoin twitched as his name was read out, and smiled when he heard that Páidí would be alongside him. Charlie too, was in the fifteen, but Killian was on the bench.
    ‘I’m delighted to have got this far,’ smiled Killian. ‘I wasn’t even in one of the four teams back at training camp, remember.’
    The selectors had taken heed of the greatly improved second-half performance against Cardiff and had called up