offensive speed at a steady pace and never pass too hard. And when defending keep a sharp eye by watching every potential sidestep or offload from the opposition in the hopes of catching us off guard. Your reaction time has to be impeccable to move their way to tackle them and stop the line break or switch the eye to the sudden new ball carrier and hit him or her quickly; but you also have to watch each player near the ball at all times and prepare to tackle them if that unexpected pass comes to them. Bottom line: Do NOT let them get past the advantage line and score cheap points." 

"PEEEEEEEEEEP!" The head referee's whistle sounded from outside to signal to the players to come back out for the next half of the game.

"Now let's get back out there and play hard right to the end." Dreamer finished after he heard the signal. "Paws in."

The team and coaches put their paws together into the centre of the circle again.

"One, two, three..." Dreamer said again.

"AMITY RFC!" The whole team yelled. They players then filed out their shed door again, along with Cheshire, and entered back out to the white rectangle to begin the second half.

As the two Schnauzers ran past the sideline, they noticed that their family was among the spectators on Amity's side: Lady, Colette, Annette, Danielle and Angel. They waved and cheered as they headed out to the centre.

"Let's go, my boys! Good luck to you out there!" Lady yelled to her son and mate.

" Hit them with your best shot, daddy!" Colette then yelled to her father.

"Play hard and don't give up!" Annette also yelled.

"Make us proud and slam them to the mud!" Danielle cheekily said aloud.

"Believe in yourself and trust your instincts, Scamp!" Angel then yelled to her mate. "I have faith in you!"

Scamp and Tramp looked back at the voices of encouragement from their family. Tramp smiled and nodded and Scamp smiled and winked in the confirmation at taking in the support and turned back towards the field of play. They along with the rest of the team got into their set positions in their own half to get ready to receiver the ball and then attack when it would be kicked to them.

Not too soon after play had resumed, at the 42nd minute, Moody had received a long punt kick from Cheshire and passed it to wing Sparky on his right, who then kicked the ball high (up-and-under kick) and chased after it in an attempt to challenge the Cheshire players for the catch and run down the field with the ball. The Cheshire outside centre jumped up to catch the ball and Sparky did the same; but as he did so, the outside centre jumped higher and caught the ball. When he did this, he accidentally hit Sparky with his rising knee right into the side of his head, almost knocking him out cold. Play continued for over a minute until the referee called for a knock-on by Amity and awarded a scrum to Cheshire. After he did, Dreamer called for a time out and it was granted. He then went to check on Sparky, who was being attended to by the Amity trainers.

"Is he okay?" Dreamer asked Gilderoy.

"He is feeling a bit dizzy but he seems to know what just happened." Gilderoy replied after assessing Sparky for several minutes. "Luckily he has no concussion. He is just a little bruised in the head and he was in a slight state of shock after the impact. He should be alright. But if he plays on the swelling is only going to get worse, so I would take him off, rest him, and replace him with someone else. Don't let him play anymore because he needs to rest the pain."

"No problem. Get him off and we'll get Alminderson onto the wing immediately."

Gilderoy immediately obliged and he and Katrina helped Sparky to get up and aid him off the field. Reede then sent reserve back Dusty Alminderson to take his place on the right wing.

Scamp looked a bit concerned as his 'veteran' Ex-JD friend was taken off.

"Poor Sparky!" He exclaimed quietly to his father. "I hope that he will be alright. That is not a nice thing to happen at his age."

"I know, but they say that he is only bruised." Tramp assured to his son. "An ice pack on the head and some hours of rest and he'll be fine. He is lucky that he wasn't knocked out with that shot to the head."

"Yeah, I could say the same about me." Scamp replied, thinking about that illegal mid-air tackle from Cheshire on him.

"Yeah, you still alright after that?" Tramp asked.

"Just fine and dandy. I will be able to play on. Don't worry."

Tramp smiled before they both got back into position for play to restart. The referee did end up speaking to the Cheshire back who collided with Sparky, but he only told him to be careful and watch the dangerous or risky negligent play that might eventually send him to the sin bin. Therefore he was let off with a warning. He then continued to 'tick the clocks numbers' on his watch and play the scrum that had been awarded to Amity.

At the 57th minute, Cheshire managed to get close to the line from a penalty kick to touch and a successful lineout throw after they received the advantage for illegal binding at the scrum by prop Carson Trainer. They drove in for several phases and got within 10 metres of the line before the referee penalized Amity again for being offside. They simply tapped and ran the ball again and desperately tried to break the line and score a try, but Amity's forwards hit hard and defended well, so it was a tough gauntlet for Cheshire as they were going through many phases of play. Scamp even made several hard tackles and Mooch joined practically every single ruck while at the same time driving hard to counter-ruck; so their support looked very impressive.

Cheshire kept going until, at the 60th minute, replacement flanker Woody Engelhart got penalized for using his hands to grab the ball in a miscalculated counter-ruck attempt. This Cheshire penalty was near the right hand post of the goal and therefore, seeing how easy it seemed from this distance, they decided to go for another penalty kick. They kicked it over in no time and the score was now at close range at 10-9.

At the 67th minute, Cheshire were 36 metres from Amity's line and they got the ball out wide to the winger on the left, who then produced an amazing double sidestep to get past winger Dusty and fullback Moody and open the space to score in the corner. Cheshire were now up 10-14. 

As they got ready to line the ball up for the conversion, the Amity players gathered in a quick hustle along with forwards' and backs' coaches Caleb and Alistor; who ran out the drinks to the players.

"Don't worry about that, team." Dreamer encouraged, not sounding annoyed at the giveaway but trying to get his players to keep their mind set on the task at hand. "That was a trick that we would have expected sooner or later. We still have a little time left, so we are still in this. We have to start playing some hard offense. We have to keep the ball at the breakdown and get our set plays going between 1 or 2 phases so we get every chance to break the line and get closer to the zone. So let's get some speed up every time we get they ball and just go for it."

"And keep that speed up by getting the ball out quick at the breakdown for a chance to break the line before their defense can set up." Alistor added. "It is a good way of putting more pressure on them and catching them off guard."

"And remember to support the runner at all times so that when the breakdown comes, once the first dog goes in, you hold them long enough for support to come and clear out the counter-ruck dogs." Caleb then put in. "Do not lose possession of the ball."

They then lined up on the try line and waited for the conversion kick, which was to be taken on the corner. The kick ended up no good, so the score remained at 10-14.

At the 70th minute; ten metres from the halfway line on Amity's side; outside centre Red Dhalsim carried the ball from a set play and got caught in his run. His left leg had hit the ground hard and his knee twisted too much just before he screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. He still managed to place the ball and remain stable until after the ruck broke off, but he remained on the grass and constantly winced while clutching his knee. 

"Get on the field now!" Gilderoy commanded to Katrina. "Red is in a bad way."

So they raced onto the field while play was still in motion and came up to inspect Red's knee. Play stopped shortly after this when a knock-on was made by Amity and the referee immediately blew his whistle twice to call a time out. Several teammates came over to the casualty site to check on their outside centre, but the trainers told them to clear out to give the injured player breathing space. They eventually stated to the referee that Red's knee was badly hurt and needed to be taken off the field ASAP. Therefore they both stood side by side of him and he put his shoulders around theirs. They then slowly escorted him from the field, with Red limping the whole way. He was then replaced by reserve centre Faulk Dye. Then after a brief hustle and talk from both teams, the referee blew his whistle to start the game clock again.

At the 74th minute, at Cheshire's 23 metre line, Amity won the ball back from them after the ball was passed forwards. They won the scrum feed easily and started their fast set piece offense, which lasted for 9 phases until they got within 12 metres of the line: Scratchy produced a long fast pass to Dreamer and he dummied (faked a pass) left and immediately sidestepped right. This caught the

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