Page 29 of Pitch Prince

Me? I was not fine with that. I didn’t know if he was rejecting me because he wasn’t attracted to me, or whether it was because he had some misguided sense that I was experimenting with him. But I didn’t know how to come up with the conversation without him shutting me down.

On the rugby field we were still electric. We had adapted without Finn, the Golden Trio becoming the Golden Duo. I could see Wesley’s appreciation for the rocket that was Rhys Prince growing with every training session, and I knew in my heart that Rhys would be starting every Welsh game in the upcoming Autumn Internationals. If Wesley was sensible, Rhys would be the team’s captain within a couple of years. Maybe I was biased. Because Rhys played well and he played beautifully. Seeing him play rugby gave me a real happiness and determination to see this team do well.

In the very first test game against Japan in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, we thrashed them by over twenty points. That was to be expected though, and New Zealand would be a much harder prospect.

That week, when we flew to Auckland, Rhys sat in the seat next to me on the plane. When turbulence hit and he started to shake more than the plane, his face going grey, I offered him my hand and he threaded his fingers through mine. The other hand clutched the ever-present lion toy. When the turbulence subsided, Rhys moved his hand away but not without a whispered “thanks.” I wished I could hold his hand for that little bit longer.

I wondered if there had ever been a couple in the team before. Surely in 200 years of history, there had been gay or bisexual players behind closed doors. If one in every ten men was queer and there were thirty-seven players on the plane…then on average there would be at least another one.

We were roomed together in multiple New Zealand hotels, Wesley wanting to preserve the bonds that had formed between players. Even in I’d wanted a repeat of the previous time, we were so exhausted after every match that we would just get into our beds and fall asleep. We pummelled the club sides that stood against us one by one until we came up against the might New Zealand. It was our turn now to be scared. New Zealand were a team that every team feared. We won the first game against them narrowly, but the second they came back with a ferocity that the Lions simply couldn’t match.

Despite his brilliance, Rhys hadn’t been selected for either of the matches. It wasn’t often that such a new player got put on the squad for the full-on Lions matches, but as far as I was concerned we needed him. The night before the last match I knocked on Wesley’s door.

When he answered in just a pair of unicorn-patterned pyjama bottoms I snorted before I could stop myself.

“Not a word,” he muttered as he gestured me in to the room.

As soon as the door was shut, I was pleading my case. “Play Prince. Just put him on the field, please.”

“Why?” Wesley asked with a wry grin. “Convince me he deserves to be there.”

“Well…he plays far better than some of the more experienced players we have on the tour who are starting, he has a much better attitude than some I can name, he’s fast, and…he works well with me. I enjoy being captain, but I enjoy it even more when I’m playing with people who understand what I need from them without words.”

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” said Wesley. “He’s playing, I just wanted to check we were working off the same hymn-sheet.”

“You were already planning on starting him?” I asked. “That’s…great.”

“I just hope he doesn’t let me down,” said Wesley. “Are you ready for your last ever international match?”

“I…think so. Big scary moment.”

“Let’s get you a win on your last game then. I would like that for you very much.”

With Rhys by my side on the pitch, I was confident we could do anything.

14

Chapter Fourteen - Rhys

It was cold on the pitch as we stepped out into the floodlit stadium, the All-Blacks supporters cheer blurred into a roar that penetrated every bone in my body. I had never expected the call-up to play, but Callum’s wry smile as we got the news had me realising that perhaps I was not the first to know I’d been chosen. Whether by his intervention or Wesley’s hand, I was not just a member of the Lions tour any more. I was a real Lion. And I was ready to play.

The All-Blacks started the game with their haka. Having watched it from the sidelines and on TV before now, it was terrifying to see in person. Just a war dance from fifteen men who stood tiny on the field, but something in the tone and movement made me want to curl up into a ball. The Lions squad stood resolute, lined up on the halfway line with explicit orders from Wesley to show respect to the Maori tradition but to stand and face it head on to show we were not afraid. We would beat them if we stood up to them. And I was determined that we would.

“You ready?” Callum whispered in my ear as we began, so close that his breath made all the hairs on my neck stand on end.

“I’m ready,” I said. I was not going to fuck this chance up.

From the second the whistle blew to start the game, it was carnage. Both teams were determined to win the tour and the game, and the All Blacks got in the first two tries, but neither kick landed as it should so we were ten points down. Before the half-time whistle blew Steve Ford managed to score a try for us that was beautifully converted by our kicker. I hoped Finn was alright at home watching. I’d heard worryingly little from him since we’d been in New Zealand, and I was almost angry that the man who’d gone running to Wesley was taking glory that rightfully could have been his. With both our and New Zealand’s defence working overtime we got to half-time with a score of ten-seven to the All Blacks.

“Come on boys, we are capable of more than this,” said Wesley in the changing rooms. “We are a team of the best of the best. I have personally selected you to represent our countries in the hope that we get a historic win here in New Zealand. Do not let me down.”

Running back onto the pitch five minutes later, his words rang in my head. This could be my last ever test for the Lions as well as my first. I had to prove my own abilities.

As we neared the end of the game we weren’t doing any better. A couple of penalties had is at thirteen-ten. One try would have us ahead of New Zealand. One more try against us and they could finish us.

I remembered how Callum had taken advantage of my lack of attack on the field. It was time to test that theory.Maybe my size is an advantage against these bastards, I thought. As New Zealand kicked toward our end, I rotated my shoulder. It was time to really test months of physio more than I had thus far.

New Zealand kicked short, and their number fifteen caught it with ease. I rushed toward him, but his eyes flicked to the side for a second. Enough for me to realise what he was about to do.

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