opposing winger carefully and aimed to tackle him from out to in to get him away from near the touch line and towards Sparky’s fellow defenders so that they could assist in the tackle to get the winger down and stop him from advancing up the field. Sparky would also call for his defensive line to shift across to his side when the opposition looked like or where moving the ball over to the wing; so that no open gaps in defense would be left open for the opposition to run through.

 

After 30 minutes of scrimmaging (with a couple of timeouts on top of it), Reede blew his whistle 3 times to signal the end.

 

“That will do, everyone!” He yelled aloud. “Scrimmage is complete! Come on over!”

 

All 56 canines stopped their scrimmaging immediately and slowly made their way over to their head coach. Caleb, Alistor and Schaulk also made their way over and joined alongside Reede; accompanied by trainers Katrina and Gilderoy, and Vince, the president. Water bottles were waiting for the players in front of the coaches as they came, and most of them immediately picked them up and drank the essential fluids fast when they huddled in as most players were fatiguing hard after the intense exercises. As they were rehydrating, Reede spoke again once the four coaches joined around him:

 

“Alright, good work out there, all of you. I know that you must all be completely fatigued, but this is all part of the nature of the game. You will eventually get used to it, trust me. Now, we are going to organize the team list to decide which of you have made the team and who will be cut. This will take about 5 to 10 minutes, so you may all take a breather while we sort this out. Then we will call you all back over and call the numbers of the players who are in. So go ahead and rest it all off.”

 

All players then headed to the exterior of the team sheds to rest and remove some of their gear while the four coaches and the administrators did their negotiations and wrote down their key players for the side.

 

The five Ex-JD clan had gathered around each other again and were talking amongst themselves as they drank water to cool down.

 

“How are you guys feeling?” Tramp asked.

 

“Absolutely stuffed, but healthy tired at the same time.” Scratchy replied. “Truth to be told, I don’t think that I have ever felt better.”

 

“Same here.” Sparky put in. “I think that we have just risen to another level up from streetwise stunts. It was extra hard work out there but I think that it was worth every run, hit, ruck and scrum for a bit of fitness and health benefit.”

 

“It certainly beats street survival any day.” Mooch followed on. “This place is where the real fun and tough challenges belong. No more of this underclass street dog nonsense for us anymore, kay?”

 

“Yeah, it is a lot more fun than those dangerous alleyways.” Scamp further added. “And it is more or less a place where individuals of low class are given a chance to make a name for themselves and prove to be better than they think they are. Surely there are some strays out here today who will be looking for that.”

 

“I know there are, my boy.” Tramp remarked again. “I saw a quite a few canines without collars turn up before the start; so I think that they will be looking to rise above themselves and boost their morale. Let’s wish the best for them.”

 

This made Scamp think about Buster again and how if he himself could have tried out for the rugby team, he might just get in. He is a little twisted a conceited. Scamp thought. But I also think that he needs a chance to rise above himself. He could learn so much more from this game, not just how to play, so it could make him a better canine. We might see about that later down the track anyway.

 

Then the head coaches’ whistle blew and all the players were summoned over again. Reede, the assistants and the administrators stood in front of the half-a-century number of canines and got ready to read out the names and numbers of players who made the team. As he did so, the players called went over and joined him and the staff.

 

“26, Carson;…” Reede read out loud. “67, Archie; 13, Mooch;…”

 

Mooch lightened up and panted in excitement as his name was called; completely stoked that he had just made the team; but quickly restrained as he walked over to the coaches’ side as Reede continued to call the names:

 

“57, Star; 16, Scamp;…”

 

Scamp quietly jumped in joy and looked with a stoked expression at his father, who returned it proudly, before he made his way over to join the others. I knew you would make it. Tramp thought, very proud of what his boy had accomplished. That’s my boy.

 

“38, Jordan; 6, McGavin; 72, Spanner; 54, Scratchy;…”

 

Scratchy just simply smiled in satisfaction as his name was called, and he joined the others.

 

“90, Tramp;…”

 

On the other side, Mooch, Scamp and Scratchy looked at each other and smiled wide and proud as Tramp walked over in a vibe of awe. He couldn’t believe it himself despite proclaiming that he was an ‘old man’ and was past his prime to get this far, but he still felt great to have made it in. The gang gave him a look of praise and he joined.

 

“49, Dani; 52, Vivian; 10, Red; 27, Sparky;…”

 

“Yes! We all made it in!” Scamp whispered to his father, who was looking just as happy for Sparky.

 

“Good on him.” Tramp replied in a likewise whisper. “He and I may not be as young as we used to be, but somehow we still seem to have some fight left in us.”

 

As Sparky joined the team, he and the other four of the Ex-JD gang quietly high-fived and hugged each other, all praising what they had accomplished as Reede continued to read out his list:

 

“81, Moody; 11, Chapel; 92, Dreamer; 22, Faulk; 78, Taylor; 18, Dusty; 50, Mitch; 3, Kung Lao; 25, Woody; 8, Kriss; 55, Oblena; 71, Golden Gate; 33, Stamford; 48, Hamden; 96, Loni; and 17; Iva.”

 

At this point the full selected squad of 30 stood around the head staff while the other unselected 26 remained facing them. Some of them looked disappointed, and some agitated, but most of them tried to handle it bravely as they remembered what Reede had told them before the start of the tryouts about difficulties on player selection. Reede could also see the disheartened expressions from the unselected players, and so he decided to follow up what he told them earlier to make them feel better.

 

“The rest of you...” Reede said to them. “You all worked very hard today and we are very proud of your efforts. Barely any of you made many mistakes today and I am not lying when I say that you all have great talent in rugby and your skills have really impressed us. As I predicted earlier, there were some very tough choices that we had to make because of the fact that you all performed well enough to be selected. So we apologize if we left you out, but as I said earlier, we will keep our cut list and possibly call some of you up in case our injured list fills up and we need replacements. Plus we are always looking for volunteers to pitch in to water, equipment and caretaker duties, so feel free to come forwards any time if you are interested.”

 

Most of the cut squad thought that this all sounded pretty fair, and so they shot a look or nod of understanding to Reede. Some others didn’t really know what to say as they were still lost in their thoughts at what just happened; or what didn’t happen for that matter; but they still took the head coach’s words in.

 

“And remember this:” Reede continued. “This is not the end of the road for you. Our door is always open to anyone and you will still have another shot at making the team at next years tryouts. Just give yourselves some time to work on and improve your skills. American professional golfer Nancy Lopez once said; ‘True competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves harder, while quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up.’ Failing at things is important, because it will give you a reason to fight back and determine your future success. And for those of you who came very close today, if some of our selected players are not here by this time next year, you may be very likely to make it with us then, so keep up with those skills in hope of being eligible.”

 

The unselected squad all felt that Reede had a valid point and his words were very wise and inspirational, so they took them in and let the disappointment slip away from their minds.

 

“Good luck to you all and best of luck for next year.” Reede finished. “We hope to see you again.”  

 

And with that, the 26 players broke off and headed to the exterior of the shed where their bags and equipment was, and they got ready to pack up and leave.

 

As soon as they were gone, Reede and the staff turned back to the 30 selected players to address them one last time.

 

“Alright, team. Congratulations on making Amity Regional Rugby Club. You also worked exceptionally hard today and we look forward to coaching and training you in the forthcoming pre-season. During this time, there will be skills to pick up on and styles of rugby to focus on to be able to

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