caught the defense by surprise and they were unable to switch in time to tackle the Amity fly-half and captain, so Dreamer broke the advantage line to gain several metres until he got tackled around the legs; but before he could hit the ground, Dreamer produced an offload pass to his support player Tramp, who would then fool the opposition once more by immediately passing to his right to the closest support player: His son. Scamp reacted very quickly, caught the ball and; seeing the open space in defense created by the trick play; went through and dove over the line to score next to the left post.

The home crowd went wild as he hit the ground and put downward pressure on the ball. The referee blew his whistle and held his arm high to confirm that the try had been scored. All playing members of the Amity squad joined together and huddled into a celebratory embrace with the try scorer and assistants in the middle of it: Scamp, his father and the captain. They congratulated them on their spectacular playmaking effort before jogging back to the halfway line and leaving Moody to easily convert the kick in no time at all. Amity took the lead again at 17-14 with only a minute and a half left in the game.

Amity continued to defend hard as Cheshire had the ball again and desperately tried one last time to get to the line before the end. The full-time siren sounded after several set play phases and Cheshire kept going, desperate not to lose the ball, pass it forwards or knock-on; otherwise the referee would blow his final whistle and the game would be over. But Tramp ended up aggressively tackling Cheshire's outside centre so hard that the ball was knocked loose. Seeing the opportunity to snatch the win, Moody picked up the ball quickly and kicked it towards the touch line before he could get tackled; easily putting it out of play. The referee sounded his whistle three times to signal the end of the game. Amity had won.

The entire team, coaches, trainers, reserves, injured players, non-playing team, and home crowd cheered loudly as victory had just been handed to them. The playing members joined together again in a huddle for one last celebration that lasted for a few minutes. They then created a 'tunnel' of players standing in two lines and clapped for their opponents as they walked through it, praising them for their efforts from the game today. Cheshire then did the same thing as Amity came though their opponents' tunnel. Both teams then headed to their sheds. However, Red needed to stay outside with the trainers as his knee felt so painful that he could not stand on either his fours or two legs.

"How is he feeling?" Alistor asked Katrina.

"We are barely able to move or rotate his knee without him wincing." Katrina replied. "We dare not let him try and stand up and put more pressure on it. I think he might have hurt his anterior cruciate ligament. He will definitely need to go to hospital, so we called the paramedics. They should be here any minute now."

"Alright, then. I'll let the others know. Keep him in a stable position."

Alistor then left to join the rest of the team in the sheds.

In there, when all players; heavily fatigued, battered and bruised, and some lightly bleeding in the face; sat down on their benches, Reede stood in the middle of the room to view his players at '360 degrees' and got ready for his post-match speech.

"Alright, boys!" He said aloud for the audibility of his team in a proud and praising tone. "Congratulations on such a fantastic start to the season! From you all, that was an extremely impressive effort that only the highest class of coaches could ever be proud of. You all played so hard right to the end and you never let them get through cheaply. The endurance that you held, despite the fatigue and pain, showed that your level of fitness is at it's best; like the wounded soldiers on the battlefield who would not let their pain or injuries hold them back from fighting until they stood proud in victory for the service and spirit of their country. To me you are all a bunch of brave soldiers who will never back down from a fight and will continue to battle, no matter who wins in the end. That is why your competitive spirit has been proven today. So well done, all of you."

The team clapped for 5 seconds to praise their work and the head coach's encouraging words to them before he continued with his analysis breakdown of the game:

"I thought there was plenty of support at the rucks and we only gave up a couple of turnovers, so our phase count for each set each set was pretty high. The set plays were fast but controlled and also sometimes aggressive and we never lost the ball through unforced handling errors. Maybe a couple of forced errors from opposition defensive pressure, but we only had to expect that as their defense was pretty solid. But we also had plenty of that. This is what won us the game. As we worked hard at this all pre-season, I will not lie when I say, from today, that it has definitely paid off. The defense was outstanding in the tackle and counter-ruck support in that you made every attempt possible to hit the ball carriers with more than one dog to restrict the tackle bust and offload, and there was only a couple of times when the offload occurred but you reacted quickly and got the next man down before he could get away. So with the defensive intensity out there, I reckon you made them work to the point of heavy fatigue; because they were finding it hard to run or pass properly under the pressure; and we were then able to capitalize on their mistakes. Excellent work."

He then began talking about the negative parts of the team's gameplay:

"Looking at the stats, I think we were higher on the penalties conceded. There were a few times when we got penalized at the ruck for entering from the side, holding onto the ball, and not releasing the tackled player. Plus we engaged early on one occasion. So from that Cheshire were able to capitalize with successful penalty kicks. We need to remember that we have to stay more composed around the breakdown area and when scrumming. Attempting to counter ruck can only get so intense before a single small mistake can mean the difference between a turnover and foul play; and pushing too hard in the scrum will usually risk illegal wheeling or a collapse, and therefore another foul added to our stats. So remember what I taught you about defensive scrumming, rucking and mauling: Resist and hold them back instead of pushing in order to hold the scrums and mauls up and restrict extra metres being gained. The aim is to put the pressure on them to force the mistakes, and then take the opportunity to capitalize; which then opens the chance for us to score. But all in all, great effort. I enjoyed watching you fight hard and so did your fans. You should be proud of the support that you received here today. You earned it. Well done, again."

The entire team and assistant coaches clapped loudly once again with a couple quietly cheering.

"Now for our top three star players today: At number three; with many ball carries, averaging about 5 run metres per carry, several big tackles, and scoring our first try; Spanner!"

The team cheered and applauded while looking at Spanner Blignaut, and several shook his paw. Spanner smiled and said thank you to them before the team settled down and continued to listen to the other two stars to be announced by the head coach.

"At number two; with 4 line breaks, over 50 metres of ground covered, plenty of offloads, and fine encouragement and support in every offensive and defensive play; our fine leader, Dreamer!"

The team applauded even louder and included shouts of joy for their captain; believing in his leadership qualities that helped get them through on this day. Dreamer appreciatively looked at his players; as proud of them as they were proud of him.

"And at number one and today's player of the match; with over 10 tackles and ball carries, around 26 metres gained, 3 line breaks, consistently supporting the ball carriers including breakdown and phase support, and scoring the match-winning try; Scamp!"

The team applauded and cheered the loudest for their main star performer; and Scamp, although very sensitive at this time, nodded his 'thank you's" and smiled to his fellow teammates. His father also looked at him proudly, along with Mooch, Scratchy and Sparky. 

"Yes, congratulations, Scamp, Dreamer and Spanner." Reede proudly continued with his eyes focused on his star players. "You played exceptional rugby today and I am extremely proud of you three. Keep up the good work. Oh, and thank you, Scamp, for providing the music to help psyche us up for the match. I believe that it certainly contributed to this victory." 

The team agreed and also thanked their star second rower aloud for what he provided formthe team before the match got underway. Scamp just smiled at them and said his "no problems" and "your welcomes" through the applause. Reede then turned back to his team after the praise had finished: 

"And again I could not be any more proud of you all. It was a great contest here today and I hope you all enjoyed it. Let's try and keep this up for the rest of the season. Now remember, there will be post-match drinks and meals for both teams at the Yale Club in Church Street in town starting at 6 o'clock tonight if you would like to join us. This is a true tradition of rugby. So show your team spirit and lets join together along with our fellow opponents. All right?"

"Yes, coach! Let's do it!" The team replied in delight; all fairly enthusiastic.

"Okay, then." Reede finished. "Well done again and I will