Chasing a Rugby Dream Book Two
‘A portrayal of a young person following their dream in the game, a cracking read’
ALUN WYN JONES
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
‘This is such a great story, I loved it. It’s so authentic about how young people chase their rugby dreams . . . just like I’ve done. A must-have book for all aspiring young rugby players’
LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
‘Another fantastic rugby adventure from James Hook. Packed with positivity, it’s a story about the importance of never giving in, fighting to overcome life’s problems and remaining loyal. An inspirational read’
PAUL WILLIAMS
RUGBY WORLD
‘I loved this fantastic book! A thrilling rugby story and great to see such a strong female character as Kitty at the heart of the action! A must for any rugby fan – boy or girl’
JASMINE JOYCE
WALES AND TEAM GB 7S
‘Such a great and inspirational read. James captures the joys and challenges of schools rugby perfectly, with a story that is packed full of positive messages for young readers. A must read for anyone interested in rugby’
GEORGE NORTH
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
‘A tale of heart, friendship and never giving up … the perfect rugby book. Beautifully written and essential reading for rugby fans young and old’
BRYAN HABANA
SOUTH AFRICA, 2007 IRB WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
‘Everything that’s good about rugby is in this book! The joy of playing for the love of the game but also with a view to making it as a pro. A must read.’
RHYS WEBB
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
‘Superb! A great story that will inspire every child who reads it. Full of positive messages and tips to improve your game, this book ticks every box if you’re looking for an entertaining story about trying to succeed in sport’
JONATHAN DAVIES
WALES AND GREAT BRITAIN
‘Loyalty, excitement, humour, plenty of rugby action and a masterclass of rugby tips makes this the perfect book for any rugby fan. Every chapter is a cliffhanger which makes you want to read on and on. I can’t recommend this inspirational book highly enough’
JUSTIN TIPURIC
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
‘A great book that upholds all the important life messages that make rugby the great game that it is. A fantastic story that emphasises the respect that is key to the game of rugby. Inspirational’
NIGEL OWENS
INTERNATIONAL REFEREE
‘Another instant rugby classic! Impact is the perfect follow up to Kick-Off – great, realistic rugby storylines which promote great resilience, loyalty and the deep joy of playing rugby’
LEE BYRNE
WALES AND THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
This edition first published in 2021 by
POLARIS PUBLISHING LTD
c/o Aberdein Considine
2nd Floor, Elder House
Multrees Walk
Edinburgh
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Text copyright © James Hook and David Brayley, 2021
ISBN: 9781913538255
eBook ISBN: 9781913538262
The right of James Hook and David Brayley to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library.
Designed and typeset by Polaris Publishing, Edinburgh
Printed in Great Britain by MBM Print SCS Limited, East Kilbride
CONTENTS
Prologue
1: Great Expectations
2: Fun in the Sun
3: Thrills and Skills
4: Preparing for Camp
5: First Blood
6: Tough to Tackle
7: Homeward Bound
8: Back on Home Turf
9: Kick Chase
10: Time to Talk
11: A New Kid in Town
12: The Ghost Story
13: Back to School
14: Reading for Pleasure
15: An App Masterclass
16: Family Ties
17: Anyone for Sevens?
18: Making Up the Numbers
19: Centre Stage
20: Rules are Rules
21: Aye, Aye, Captain Joseph
22: That’s Gotta Hurt!
23: Doctor, Doctor
24: On the Comeback Trail
25: 10,000 Hours
26: Aiming High
27: Bread and Butter Kicks
28: Even Christmas Day’s a Training Day
29: Starting Over
30: The Talking To
31: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
32: Gramp
33: Saved by the Bell
34: The Ladder to Success
35: The Lowest Point
36: Finding the Answer
37: The Garden of Eden
38: Tackling the Past
39: A Tough Break
40: A Bigger Picture
41: Visualising the Future
42: Enjoying Success
43: Opting Out
44: Jimmy’s Secret Garden
45: The Final Countdown
46: Finding Fekitoa
47: The Road to the Final
48: Crash, Bang, Wallop
49: Duty Calls
50: The Moment of Truth
51: Hands Down!
52: Arm Wrestling
53: The End Game
Epilogue
PROLOGUE
Eagles’ Elite Young Players’ Summer Academy Camp,
Underhill Complex.
Day Three.
Mike Green looked up from his plate of scrambled eggs and toast. Jimmy Joseph was sitting across the table, his bowl of fruit and yoghurt barely touched, a faraway look in his eyes.
‘I heard you had a tough day yesterday, mate,’ said Mike.
‘You could say that,’ said Jimmy, flatly. ‘I just don’t know what happened. The more I thought about tackling
, the worse I got. I just wanted the day to end. My technique was awful.’
Jimmy didn’t feel that the time was yet right to share that there had been moments, plenty of them, when he’d felt scared. This was a completely new sensation to Jimmy, one of complete failure on a rugby field, and he had no idea how to deal with it.
‘I heard Mr Kane telling Mr Withey that he only asked you to make five tackles all day.’
‘Five!’ exclaimed Jimmy. ‘I did five in the first two minutes!’
‘Yeah, I know. I heard that big prop in your group saying that Kane gave you a bit of a beasting.’
‘It was brutal,’ replied Jimmy. ‘Do you know, I was the only player in our squad who didn’t get to carry and run with the ball at all yesterday? It was one-on-one tackling all morning and tackle bags all afternoon. And Kane didn’t even give me any coaching – he just shouted at me for being rubbish! If I’d known the camp was going to be like this, I’d never have come. I’d have much preferred to have gone to the one being run at the Wolves with Kitty, Matt and Manu. They all texted me last night to say how much fun they’re having – it sounds like it’s all games and fun skill sessions and stuff. Nothing like what Kane’s putting me through.’
Jimmy glanced down at his blood-stained (courtesy of his nose) and grass-stained (courtesy of his all-day tackling session) Eagles shirt, no longer as pristine as the day he’d received it.
‘I’d really been looking forward to this after the way our season finished,’ he continued. ‘Especially when my dad was able to find the money to help buy all the proper kit and it all started arriving. But it’s now turning into a bit of a nightmare.’
‘I know,’ nodded Mike, ‘but you’ve just got to hang in there, mate. It’ll be worth it. Playing for the Eagles is your dream, isn’t it? Well we’re here, this is the start. We’re on the ladder. You can’t let Kane ruin it.’
Jimmy nodded, but was quiet for a moment.
‘Yeah, but you know what,’ he said, at last, his shoulders slumping a little further. ‘Maybe I am too young to be here. If today’s anything like yesterday, I might just knock it on the head and call it quits.’
‘No, don’t do that!’ exclaimed Mike. ‘It’ll get better. Just give it a day or two and you’ll start getting used to everything and Kane will just get bored of picking on you. You’ll see.’
Jimmy appreciated Mike’s optimism and support, but it would prove sadly misplaced. The third day of the camp was Jimmy’s worst by a long way. The first hour was fitness, which Jimmy didn’t mind at all. But on every exercise or drill they were shown, Mr Kane would find fault in Jimmy’s efforts and send him down for five press ups.
When it came to kicking practice, which was one of Jimmy’s strengths, Mr Kane instructed Jimmy to stand behind the posts with the props and second rows, acting as a ball boy and running the balls back to the kickers. Jimmy couldn’t have been more dispirited.
Until the tackle bags came out to play again.
Kane immediately threw one to Jimmy as the afternoon session began, and he was lined up as cannon fodder again and again as the other boys – who were all a year or two older – ran at him at full tilt. For the next half an hour, he was bashed and knocked and pummelled. Not once was Jimmy allowed to relinquish the tackle bag, and again he became the only player of the squad not picked to run with the ball. But much worse, as player after player thumped into Jimmy and his tackle bag, so he began to resent each huge impact. That resentment quickly turned to dread, and that dread eventually turned to fear.
At the end of the session, when Mr Kane’s whistle blew for the final time, Jimmy threw down his tackle bag and just stared at it. His forearms were aching from the constant battering and the strength he’d needed to keep a grip of the tackle bag each time somebody smashed into him. Surely an elite rugby academy was supposed to be more enjoyable than this? Or actually involve him playing some actual rugby? But then all the other kids in his group were getting to do that. It was just him that was the odd one out. He felt very alone.
‘Well, we’ve found your weakness,’ said Mr Kane, sauntering past. He wasn’t even looking at Jimmy, but it was clear who he was talking to. ‘Can’t tackle . . . won’t tackle. Never mind, much more of the same tomorrow.’
Jimmy decided there and then, as he watched Mr Kane swagger off towards the doors to the changing rooms near the entrance to the Eagles’ training complex, his shoulders rocking as he went, that there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow. Forget this relentless slog. He was going home and he wasn’t coming back.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Four weeks earlier.
‘Hey Jimmy!’ shouted Kitty across the waste ground behind the row of terraced houses where they’d both lived since they were born.
Jimmy spun around at the sound of her voice and drilled a thirty metre kick towards her. Kitty crabbed sideways a couple of steps and then plucked the ball out of the air. She jogged towards him and then backheeled the ball over her head and into Jimmy’s hands.
‘Nobody likes a show-off,’ he said, grinning.
‘And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?!’ laughed Kitty as he started to do keepie-uppies.
‘Fair point,’ he laughed, just as he lost control.
Since their incredible victory in the Cluster Cup final at the end of the previous rugby season in May, Jimmy had become very much a local sporting celebrity. All the dark days of the bullying by Mike Green and the awful treatment at the hands of Mark Kane were nothing more than distant memories. It was exactly as his beloved grandfather, Will, had promised him at the height of Jimmy’s troubles . . . ‘Mark my words, Jimmy, once all this bullying is sorted – which it will be – it will all just become a memory that will fade to nothing in time. It’s dealing with it now that’s the problem; but once sorted, it’ll be gone from your life forever.’
Will’s wise words were proved correct. The way that Jimmy had handled himself in the final, as an on-field leader, and the way he had encouraged Mike to take that all-important last-second conversion, had transformed the way people viewed Jimmy, and in many ways, the way Jimmy viewed himself. From the headteacher, Mr Davies, to stand-in coach and local rugby legend, Peter Clement, to his former enemy himself, Mike Green, all had been fulsome in their praise of Jimmy. And it had to be said, it all had an effect on Jimmy. He would never have admitted it to anyone, but he’d always felt that he’d lived a little bit in the shadow of his brother, Jonny. Jimmy hero-worshipped his brother, but there had been times in the past when all Jonny’s rugby achievements – captaining Central Primary, captaining both the Year 7 and 8 first XVs at Bishopswood, attending all the age group Eagles camps – had seemed to heap an added pressure on Jimmy. And at the height of his bullying by Mike and treatment by Kane, Jimmy privately wondered if he’d ever get the chance to potentially match Jonny’s achievements. But now, Jimmy felt that he was very much on his way to equalling his brother’s accomplishments and was now clearly up and running in his fledgling rugby career. And, consequently, his confidence levels had shot through the roof.
‘You don’t really think I’m a show-off do you, Kit?’ asked Jimmy, flicking the ball to her. Kitty was the most honest, straight-talking person he knew and always said what she meant, even if her honesty sometimes hurt a little.
She laughed. ‘Nah, not really, Jim . . . it’s nice to see you being a bit more confident – and not just in rugby either, I’ve noticed in class and around school too.’
‘Not in a bad way, though?’ he asked, suddenly feeling anxious about her reply.
‘Nah,’ she said again. ‘I don’t think so. My dad’s always told me that it’s important to be confident in life. “Just don’t get too big for your boots,”’ she added, in a great imitation of her dad’s voice.
‘Let’s have a pact to make sure neither of us lets the other one ever get too cocky,’ said Jimmy.
‘Cool,’ she said, spinning the ball on her finger. ‘Just make sure you don’t confuse me u
sing my outrageous skills with being cocky.’
‘You’re the definition of humility, Kit,’ said Jimmy dryly. But he knew they understood each other and that her dad had a point. His grandfather had always echoed a similar viewpoint, especially when he told Jimmy stories of his time in the Marines and the importance of team work and doing the right thing whenever you could.
‘And don’t worry, I’ll keep you grounded, cup final superstar,’ she added, starting to bounce on her toes. She shuffled her feet like a boxer and then tucked the ball under her arm and charged at him. Taken totally by surprise, Jimmy was brushed aside as she clattered into him and before he knew it, he was sitting in a heap on the dusty ground.
‘There you go superstar, as promised, I’ll always keep you grounded. But if you want to make it, I think you’re going to have to work on your tackle technique.’
They both roared with laughter, but little did either Kitty or Jimmy know just how prophetic her words would soon become.
FUN IN THE SUN
Kitty and Jimmy made their way from the waste ground beneath a cloudless summer sky. It was getting towards late morning and, on a Sunday, that would usually mean that lots of other kids would be roaming around down at The Rec so there was always a chance to strike up an impromptu game of rugby which could sometimes last for hours.
As they stepped through the wrought iron gates to The Rec, they were greeted by a loud cry of ‘Kitty! Jimmy boooooooooy!’
They looked to their right and saw Manu loping towards them.
‘Not in church today?’ called Jimmy.
‘Nah, Mum and Dad let me off this morning,’ replied Manu.
‘Mate, have you grown since Friday?’ enquired Kitty, ‘I swear you have!’
Manu did a little swerving sidestep just before he reached them, then flexed his bicep.
‘Growth spurts my mother says,’ he said with a grin before exchanging fist bumps. ‘She’s going crazy, I’m growing out of everything.’