Blackrock College 47 St Michael's College 7:THE OVERALL standard in this season's Leinster Schools' Senior Cup may be slightly below the norm but that claim certainly cannot be levelled at Blackrock College, already drawing comparisons with the great teams to come through the famous rugby nursery in its 150-year history.
They haven’t won anything yet, and there remain two obstacles still to clear, but the manner in which they buried St Michael’s College at Donnybrook yesterday with a brand of 15-man, ultra-high skilled rugby was a pleasure to witness.
Seven tries, five coming before the interval, removed any question of resistance from the 2007 champions.
This mismatch would have yielded an even greater margin of victory if the game hadn’t been disrupted by the understandable emptying of the Blackrock bench for the last quarter.
What really impressed was the supposed supporting cast members, like winger Calum Rowden and flanker Tom Parsons, who excelled in their respective duties.
Playing with five backrow forwards (the lack of locks was initially considered their Achilles’ heel but the lineout is solid) means opposing halfbacks and centres are ruthlessly hunted down.
Captain Jordi Murphy is a natural-born openside but operates in the secondrow to facilitate the tearaway qualities of Richard Liddy. The same can be said of his engine-room partner, Dylan Fawsitt, who makes room for the relentless tackling of Parsons on the blindside.
In truth, the contest was over after 21 minutes when a Brian Kingston penalty hit the post only to bounce back for the perfectly-positioned Liddy for the third try.
Kingston’s fine kicking return was the ideal response to the marker laid down by Terenure College outhalf James Thornton on Tuesday.
The opening try came after the first, of many, bouts of off-loading up the left touchline allowed centre Karl Curran to cross untouched thanks to rapid ruck ball.
Next up one of their marquee players got on the score-sheet when Kingston broke the line to send Brendan Macken over the line.
At 21-0, St Michael’s were being completely overrun with the main jewel in this quality backline, Andrew Conway, neglecting the obvious clearance option, instead swerving out of three tackles before haring downfield from his 22. The Blackrock looseforwards got to his kick first, allowing Murphy to charge under the posts after more quick, clean possession.
Granted, it becomes easy to heap praise after such a result but there were no obvious weaknesses as even the frontrow displayed remarkable handling ability out of the tackle.
The next try was an impressive show of strength as a textbook lineout saw hooker Patrick Kilcoyne burrow to the line. Kingston slotted a difficult conversion.
A major concern ahead of the semi-final, against the winners of today’s match between Belvedere College and Gonzaga College, was the sight of Conway gingerly departing four minutes into the second half. Kingston and Kilcoyne also shipped knocks but seemed okay.
Moments after Conway went off, St Michael’s replacement Stephen McGarry scrambled over on the blindside. Fullback Andrew Kealy landed a difficult conversion. The non-stop enthusiasm of flanker Chris Kenna also deserves credit.
The Blackrock response took just three minutes, with St Michael’s, now going for broke, expertly turned over on the ground before Murphy put Macken in space and his final pass allowed Conway’s replacement, Caolan Fitzpatrick, to show his sprinter’s pace.
Macken claimed a second try on 48 minutes, finding space off Rowden’s direct line, which was arguably crossing, but the manner in which he stepped outside then inside the cover further enhanced his credentials as a player who must be shut down if they are to be stopped.
It is also worth noting the Blackrock starting XV are all sixth years, a rarity but further enhancing the familiarity and unity of this team.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: K Curran try, 5-0; B Kingston con, 7-0; 16: B Macken try, 12-0; B Kingston con, 14-0; 21: R Liddy try, 19-0; B Kingston con, 21-0; 27: J Murphy try, 26-0; B Kingston con, 28-0; 29: P Kilcoyne try, 33-0; B Kingston con, 35-0. Half-time. 39: S McGarry try, 35-5; A Kealy con, 35-7; 42: C Fitzpatrick try, 40-7; 48: B Macken try, 45-7; B Kingston con, 47-7.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE:A Conway; L McHugh, N Macken, K Curran, C Rowden; B Kingston, P O'Shea; D Buckley, P Kilcoyne, A Lyons; D Fawsitt, J Murphy (capt); T Parsons, R Liddy, C Barry. Replacements: C Fitzpatrick for Conway (39 mins), J O'Beirne for Kilcoyne (42 mins, blood), M Duncan for Buckley (61 mins), C Sheehan for Murphy, D Heffernan for Parsons, D Godfrey for Curran (all 64 mins), M Walsh for O'Shea (67 mins).
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE:A Kealy; J Meagher, A Kelly, D Egan, D Hynes; C Turley, A Walsh; G Featherstone, E Conway, M Andreason; S Hogan, E McMahon (capt); B O'Loughlin, C Kenna, C Mallon. Replacements: S O'Dowd for Hogan, S McGarry for O'Loughlin, K Jones for Walsh (all half-time), F Barry for Conway (50 mins), C Meenan for Andreason, M Craig for Egan, S Pratt for Hynes (all 57 mins).
Referee: J Carvill (ARLB).
