backwards; tackling; rucking; punt kicking; drop-kicking; place-kicking; scrummaging; lineouts; minor infringements such as knock-ons and forward passes; and foul play such as offsides, illegal scrum and ruck binding, hands in the ruck, collapsing scrums and not releasing the ball in the ruck. They then focused on penalty options; points values; the lines on the field; the duties of each field position; and certain plays that international teams use.

 

Scamp was typing all of this down on a word document app as they were going on. This is a lot of information to get down and I might not remember it. Scamp was thinking on-the-go. Writing it down will come in very handy.

 

Soon after they had been through part two of their study, Lady, Annette, Collette, and Danielle had returned with Jim Dear and Darling from their long walk, but Angel was not with them. It had gone on for some time because they had gone out to have a run-around in the park for a while in-between seeing the other parts of town.

 

Scamp and his father left the study to greet the rest of the family.

 

“Hi, Pidge; how was it?” Tramp asked as he nuzzled his mate.

 

“Very nice, thanks, love.’ Lady replied, somehow a bit out of breath from the all the exercise on the legs. “Veterans Park is still a very fun place to hang out.”

 

“Yeah, so many other dogs to hang out with.” Dannielle said.

 

“And open spaces to run.” Annette added.

 

“And green surroundings; beautiful birds; and lovely flower gardens.” Collette finished dreamily, knowing how much she loved the beauty of nature.

 

“And…” Tramp further added, looking at his mate. “…the perfect setting for a lovely date.” He remembered his first time with Lady down at Veterans Park after the dinner that they had at Tony’s, and to him it would be a memory that would never die.

 

“Oh, Tramp.” Lady remarked with a sweet smile as she and Tramp nuzzled lovingly once again. They broke it off after 10 seconds before Lady got her word in.

 

“So how was your training session?”

 

“Pretty daunting in a way.” Tramp replied with the feeling on fatigue recognized in his voice. “I have to say that I have never trained that hard before. We had to do exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats and leg lifts in between the long jog through the park. It’s very challenging, but Scamp says that all rugby players train like they’re in the army and they have to be at their absolute fittest to handle the physicality on the field.”

 

“Yeah, there is a lot more than just playing the game if you want to be good at it.” Scamp replied.

 

“No kidding, son. But anyway, I felt great after the session was finished. I am glad that Scamp put me through it because I really needed it. I think we all could.”

 

“Good to see you both keeping well and fit.” Lady responded. “I remember how much I used to run around the backyard and through the park with Jim Dear and Darling when I was your age, Scamp. I would run every day. I wish that I still could now.”

 

“I think yours is the sport breed of dogs, Pidge.” Tramp said to his mate, catching onto the details. “Cocker spaniels are very committed to a wide range of activity, not just in the field of sport; and I think that you passed those genes onto Scamp.”

 

“It would appear so. He has been sporty ever since he was just a little pup, and now he has taken it to the next level.” Lady smiled at Scamp as she said this, proud of her son becoming so sporty.

 

Scamp blushed from the flattering remark from his mother, and he just smiled in return. He then noticed his mates’ absence and was curious as to why Angel had not come back with the others.

 

“By the way, where is Angel?”

 

“She went into town to do some shopping.” Annette replied.

 

“But she would not tell us why or what she was going to get.” Collette added.

 

“Only I think that it is between you and her.” Danielle further added in a cheeky and teasing tone. “You two have definitely got something going on, ya know.”

 

“Then let it be, sis!” Scamp forced in a slightly irritated tone. He knew how much of a ribber Danielle was, and he was not about to let this get in the way of his mate ship with Angel. “Could you please mind your own business?! What we do is strictly between us.”

 

“He’s right, Danielle.” Lady also sternly forced in defense. “They do have their little thing going on and it doesn’t concern you, or you two.” She looked at Annette and Collette. “Clear?”

 

“Yeah, yeah; sure.” Danielle quickly replied in slight guilt. “I was just teasing. Sorry Scamp. No hard feelings.”

 

“It’s okay, sis.” Scamp replied as he came up and gave her a hug, which he would also return to his two other sisters.

 

“He has become very sweet, hasn’t he?” Collette whispered to Annette after the embrace finished.

 

“I think that love has taught him a lot about sharing.” Annette replied in the same quiet tone.

 

Suddenly Angel appeared through the doggy door on the back porch, carrying a couple of books and a DVD with her. Scamp went over to her as she sat down.

 

“Hey, Angel, where have you been?”

 

“I just popped down to the shops in town, and I found a few things that you might find useful.” She replied, handing the books and DVD to Scamp. The first book had pictures of rugby players on it; with the title: Thirty Bullies: The History of the Rugby World Cup. The second book had likewise pictures with the title: The Encyclopedia of Rugby Union. And the DVD had an image of actors Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon with the title: Invictus.

 

“I knew that you were doing some serious preparation to play the game, so I thought that you could get a bit deeper into the game by watching and reading these.” Angel said after a 30 second wait for Scamp to observe.

 

“Wow! Slick move, Angel.” Scamp replied in amazement. “That’s very thoughtful of you. You didn’t really have to do this.”

 

“I am your mate, Scamp. We all help each other out here. You would know all about that.”

 

“You’re right. I do.” Scamp understood about Angel talking about how descent he was to her and everyone else. “Well thanks a lot, Angel. I will take a look over these tonight after some more study on the game. That’s what we have been doing while you were all out there.”

 

“Well you both keep studying away at your will; and enjoy the references. I think that you will find them fun and interesting.”

 

“Can’t wait. Thanks again, Angel.”

 

“Your welcome, Tenderfoot.” And with that they both licked each other before sharing another embrace.    

“Come on now, dad.” Scamp recovered quickly, getting his mind back onto his homework. “We had now better get back to the study and do some more research.”

 

“Sure thing, Scamp.” Tramp responded immediately. “Let’s go.”

 

And with that they went back to the study and the iPad to research the next level of the game of rugby.

 

*

 

Scamp and Tramp were looking backwards and forwards to the different playing styles of the European rugby teams; including England, France, Ireland and Wales; the southern hemisphere rugby teams; including South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand; and the Pacific Islands nations; including Fiji, Samoa & Tonga.

 

“The European nations appear to play a little more defensively.” Tramp was saying after a brief analysis on the teams. “They kick a lot and only seem to want to attack with their set plays when inside the oppositions’ 50 yard zone.”

 

“That’s metres.” Scamp corrected, understanding that Americans favor measuring distance in yards rather than metres. “All rugby teams measure in metres; so we are going to have to get used to that.”

 

“Right, right.” Tramp responded, getting back onto his point from before. “Yeah, England in particular seem to concentrate on their kicking game to get the better of their opponents instead of running set plays.”

 

“Especially with the leverage of their star kicker, Jonny Wilkinson. I heard that when he played in the 2003 World Cup, he had a kicking percentage of just under 90%. He even kicked a drop goal during extra time in the final against Australia to win England the World Cup. That was also on Australian soil.”

“Ohhh!” Tramp sighed in disappointment for Australia. “That must have been so heartbreaking for the Wallabies.”

 

“But you could say that it was a bit of justice for England; because in the 1991 World Cup Final, Australia beat England on their home turf at Twickenham; so England kind of got even with Australia there.”

 

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Tramp replied, still feeling sympathetic for both rugby nations. “But still, to lose the big one in front of

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