Chapter 8

That day I had two sessions in the morning with years one and two, it was a sunny day, so we did rugby drills outside, the guys were not into the tackling practice as much as the older guys, but they were building their skills when it came to passing and it was good to see them enjoying a sport that I loved so much.

The younger lads, the year ones, didn’t want to throw themselves into a tackle as much as the year twos.

I went to the dining hall at lunchtime and found Jo Page at a table on her own. I got my food, a chicken and pasta main course plus a huge bowl of salad and cheesecake for pudding, and a pint of water and then I went to sit with her.

“Hey, are you feeling better “I asked as I sat down.

“Hey, you, yes much better thanks,” she said with a smile, “I am sorry I have not been to the training sessions.”

“It’s cool, your health comes first Jo,” I said and started to eat.

“I have been given the rest of the week off, so I might go home for a few days,” she said with a smile.

“That will be nice,” I said and returned her smile.

“Yes, I have not seen my parents for a few months “she smiled.

She told me there was a train that left the local station that evening that would get her to Glasgow and then she would take the sleeper train to Cardiff, arriving there at nine the following morning, it would give her a few days with her family. We ate and chatted, and I wished her well as she got up to leave.

“I would love to kiss you” she smiled and looked around, “but it’s not the done thing.”

“It’s cool, I understand” I grinned, “let’s hook up when you get back?”

“I would like that “she purred and then she left the room, mine were not the only eyes that watched her leave. It was obvious that a lot of the lads found her as sexy as I did, plus one or two of the other male teachers.

I went back to my office in the gym and checked my emails before getting the kit out for the afternoon’s session, I had a double period with the year fours. It would be an afternoon of rugby. I knew that if I took the job, I would have to teach other sports, but rugby had been my life and it was my thing, so I always preferred to coach rugby.

I was working hard with the year fours as they would make up the first fifteen the following year. They seemed eager to learn and it was good to get them into the culture early I thought.

The lads turned up and were soon changed and ready for action. We did ten minutes of warmups, then we did an hour of drills before a game of ten on ten. The lads were getting into it and seemed to be gaining in both skills and fitness. The future of the team seemed good. We had some good players in both the backs and forwards. There were one or two that could easier fit into the current team.

I had a notebook and took the names of some guys that I thought would fit into the first fifteen, or at least would benefit from attending the training, we could always use a few extra bodies when doing attack and defence training.

I also thought that the current lads might put a bit more effort in if they thought their position on the team was in danger. There is nothing like a bit of competition for places.

I blew the whistle to end the game and to end the working day, the lads all thanked me and headed off to the showers. I went into the office and sent emails to the lads I had noted and invited them to the training sessions.

I had to wait until they were all showered and changed before I checked the changing rooms and locked up the gym. I headed up to my room had a shower and got changed so I could chill for an hour before I headed down to the dining room.

I ate at a table with a guy called Henry Walton, we had met during the recent night out, he was a history teacher and a nice guy. He had no idea about sports but was well travelled and we talked about the cities and the places we had visited.

It was one of the things I had loved when I was a rugby professional, the travel. As they say, travel broadens the mind, we have travelled all over Europe and I had also played rugby in the USA, Canada, and South Africa. I had been lucky enough to visit a few great cities, and when we played games and toured, we always got a fair bit of downtime to see the sites.

After eating I headed back to my room and put on some training kit before heading down to the gym. The rugby squad lads were all there and ready to go, and all but one of the years fours I had invited along had turned up. We did warm-ups and our run around the pitch, and then worked on defence for half the session and then on attacking moves for the second half. It was a nice evening and the lads worked hard.

It was good to see that the year fives and year fours all working together and got on well.

They were really making good progress and even guys that were weak links were making good progress. At the end of the session, the lads all wished me good night and headed off to get cleaned up, they always headed back to the dorms which meant I never had to clean up the changing rooms.

I did head back into the office and drafted an email to the headmaster to tell him I was thinking about setting up a second fifteen-team. It would give the lads that did not make the first fifteen a chance of a game and also, I could start to give the year fours some game time. I explained the reasoning behind it, and I re-read it to make sure it all made sense.

I then worked out what we would need to buy, training kit, match kit etc.

I decided not to send it to the headmaster but to send it to Marcia and have her proofread it for me. So, I sent a cover note and emailed that off.

Then I emailed Gary Hastings, the rugby coach, at Fort William High School and asked if he had a second Fifteen. Then I locked up the gym and headed up to my room.

I had a quiet night, I had a shower and a shave, made a cup of tea, and demolished a pack of custard creams while watching a quiz show on TV. Then I had an early night.

The next morning, I did my normal run through the woods before I showered and headed down for breakfast. The dining room was empty apart from Miss Green and Brian Carothers, I had seen them having breakfast a few times, and I did wonder if they were doing the nasty.

I decided to treat myself to a fry-up, I piled on a couple of eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, and mushrooms. A cup of tea and two slices of toast were added to the tray and then I went and sat at one of the teacher’s tables. I decided not to gate crash the party that Miss Green and Brian Carothers were having. I ate my breakfast alone and pondered the day ahead.