Chapter 5

The following week we worked the team hard, there was optional fitness training every morning, basically, the lads joined me on my morning run, well some did some didn’t.

Then we had rugby sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings then we had a video session on Friday evening to discuss the stuff we were going to do in training the following day.

The lads were really getting into it and everything we talked about they seemed to soak up like a sponge.

On Saturday morning we all met at the gym and did a warm session of a run around the pitch followed by sit-ups, burpees, squat thrusts, push-ups, and the like. It was something I had been taught as soon as I got into rugby before any training sessions get warmed up. A good warm-up stops you from damaging muscles and the like.

Once the guys had warmed up, we started to talk about our defence, I had set up several plans for defensive patterns and we spent the best part of an hour working on the best way to defend line outs as well as rucks and mauls. It was funny as a few of the lads seemed to think that tackling me was a good thing to do, but I had been hit by some really big blokes in my time and I bounced most of the lads off easily.

We worked on how to defend the fringes and the guys took to it like a duck to water. I got the starting fifteen to defend against the other squad lads as well as me.

Then we did a good half an hour of one-on-one tackling before I let the guys take a breather. Then after a break, we worked on our rucking and mauling. There are quite a few tips I passed on that I knew would help the guys no end. To a lot of outsiders, this part of the game just looks like a bunch of lads having a dust-up but trust me there is a lot of science and technique around both the rucks and mauls. It is not all about strength and size, getting the right angle and the right position makes all the difference.

The session ended with a game of ten on ten, then I sent them all off for lunch. Jo and I ate with some of the other staff members, and we chatted about the team and how they were coming along. I was happy with how Jo was doing, and she seemed happy to be doing it so that was that. We worked well as a team that was for sure. I suggested that she might take her coaching exams and she thought it was a good idea. I told her I had some literature and stuff from when I had done mine and promised to email it over to her.

After lunch, I gathered the lads back at the gym and we had a chat and quiz before some gentle attack training, then we ended with Jo taking the backs for some kicking and catching practice and I took the forwards for line-out training. A good line out as well as a good scrum is essential for a good side. It was something I had noticed in the last game; we did not have many options or lineout calls.

Lineout calls are a secret code to tell the lifters and jumpers where and when to jump. We practised the calls, and I gave all the lads a laminated sheet with the codes and positions on, so they could go away and learn them inside out.

We did a full day’s work on Saturday, and I gave them the day off on Sunday.

The lads all went off to shower and Jo and I put the kit away. The staff were all going out for a curry to celebrate someone’s birthday. I did not know the birthday girl but as Jo was going, she asked me along. So, once we had put all the stuff away, we walked back toward the staff blocks.

“So, do you fancy coming in for a coffee ... or a bit of fun? “I asked.

“I would love to I really would, but I have some prep work to do for my lessons next week,” she said with a cheeky smile.

So, when we got to our block she went to her room, and I went to mine. I took a shave and shower before getting down to some work on my book. I set my mobile phone’s alarm to warn me when I had half an hour left before I had to go and meet the guys for the trip into town.

I got some more pages done before the alarm warned me to get ready. I put on some jeans and a nice shirt and a splash of aftershave before heading off to the meeting place outside the school’s admin block.

We had two minibuses as thirty-odd guys were going. The restaurant was booked, and we headed into a pub for a few beers before we headed into the Indian. I managed to get sat between a history teacher called Roger but who kept telling me to call him Rog and on the other side was one of the science teachers who did not seem to speak to anyone.

The food was ordered, and more beers were brought over. I tucked into a great vegetable curry with mushroom rice. I have never been a fan of supersonic hot curries; I prefer a tasty meal rather than a bum burner. There was no one of real interest to me to chat with so I got stuck in a conversation with Roger about the battlefields around Scotland.

I had always been interested in history and Scotland had plenty of it or so it seemed.

I ate my meal drank my beer and listened to tails of Bannockburn, Culloden, and Glencoe. The evening seemed to drag on and on. Once the meal was over, we all crowded back into the buses and headed back to the school. There were a lot of teachers from our block, so Jo and I could not sneak back to my room.

On Sunday morning I did my run in the pouring rain and had breakfast and then went to the tuck shop and stocked up on coffee and treats before heading to my room and getting stuck into my book. I broke off for lunch as a full Sunday roast had my stomach grumbling, after lunch, I went for a walk around the school grounds. The weather had changed, and the sun was out.

The afternoon was spent watching old movies on TV and chilling out.

The following morning, I woke early and did a five-mile run out into the forest and back. Then I had a shower before heading down to the dining hall for breakfast, there was no sign of Jo, so I ended up on a table on my own. I got a couple of bowls of porridge as well as a cup of tea and a pint of water.

I had just finished my first bowl of porridge when I saw Natalie Norbury heading my way. She had been at the meal the night before, but I had not had a chance to talk to her. She looked very sexy in her teaching clothes; she had the sexy librarian look about her. She was a real MILF that was for sure.

“Hello Zak, would you mind if I join you?” she asked but at the time she slid the chair out and sat down.

“Please do,” I said with a cheeky wink. She shot me a smile back as she sorted out her breakfast tray and I tucked into my second bowl of porridge.

“Hey, so how are you doing?” I asked once she had settled down and then I swigged some of the water.

“I am doing good thank you, how are you? “She smiled. She had breakfast of cornflakes and toast. She tucked into the cornflakes.

“Yea I am good thanks” I replied.

“I hear things are going well with the team,” she said between mouthfuls.

“Yes, I think we have a few good lads “I replied. “Their rugby skills and fitness are improving for sure.”

“Do you do fitness training?” she asked.

“Yes, the gym has all sorts of gear in it that can be used for that,” I said and took another sip of water.

“And are staff allowed to use it?” she said and looked me in the eye, “I think I could do with a good workout.”

I gulped before I replied.

“Well, if you want to come down Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings are free,” I said and smiled at her, “but you look in good shape to me.”

I am not sure who blushed the most. Our embarrassment was ended when Miss Green, the headmaster’s secretary, came over to our table.

“Good morning both,” she said and handed out some post. Natalie had a huge pile, most of which seemed to be magazines and periodicals, and I had half a dozen bits and pieces.

There was a letter from my publishing company asking about my book, some junk mail, and a letter from the rugby master at Fort William High School. He was enquiring about us having a home and away game to give his side some game time before a tour to South Africa they were going on.

As I had been reading my mail Natalie had finished her breakfast. The scraping of her chair on the floor brought me back into the real world.

“Right young man I am off to do some prep,” she said with a smile.

“So, did you want to arrange a time for Tuesday, “I asked.

“Are you sure it’s not putting you out?” she asked, there was a glint in her eye that told me there some something that was not being said.

“I am sure “I replied with a wink and a smile. She left the table, and I watched her big sexy arse all the way to the door, I was sure she sensed me gazing at her as she glanced back and waved as before left the dining room.

I read the letter from the rugby master at Fort William High School again, it seemed to have come out of the blue, but it was a game, and the lads could do with some match practice.

I finished my breakfast, grabbed some fruit from the buffet and headed down to my office in the gym. I fired up my computer and checked my emails, then I sent an email off to the headmaster, Professor McClusky, asking if it was something I could arrange or if there were protocols in place for such things. Once that was done, I did some research, Fort William seemed to play a good standard of rugby and they had had some good results recently.

Then I headed back up to my rooms and I got changed into shorts and a rugby shirt with a tracksuit over the top. My first class was due at ten-thirty.

When I got back to my little office in the gym, I had an email from Professor McClusky asking me to go and see him at the end of the day.

My first class was an easy one, it was a double period with the year one lads. We did some football skills training for the first period and then had a match for the second period. It was an easy session. I had not played much football but once I had taken the job, I did some work at the local library and online and had the basics boxed off.

The lads all headed off into the showers after the game and I headed into the little office. I had put a kettle and jar of coffee in there, so I made a brew and checked my emails. There were the usual memos and round robins, there was an email from Jo telling me she had a dodgy stomach and was not working and would not be able to make the rugby training that evening, I sent a sympathetic reply and asked if she needed anything.

Then I rang the Rugby master at the High school in Fort William, but there was no answer, so I left a voice mail and went to check that the lads had left the showers and changing rooms in good order.

So, after hosing down the showers and sweeping the changing rooms I went back to the office. The phone rang as I walked in. It was the rugby master, who was called Gary Hastings, from Fort William High School. We had a good chat about his idea of a home and away match. He wanted game time for his lads and to be fair I needed game time for my lads. I told him that I was up for it but that I needed to okay it with the headmaster, and that I would call him the following day.