Time to mine the raw talent

Schools rugby, the last bastion of success in an international context for Ireland, the elixir of hope for future generations, a comfy blanket for those who refuse to acknowledge professionalism, content to mutter about the halcyon days and corinthian values.

Success at schools level is something which Ireland has sustained into the professional era: the perennial problem though has been negotiating the Bermuda triangle which has claimed so many promising underage players without trace.

The Foundation squad, a scheme devised by the IRFU to harness and monitor talented schoolboy players, offering them expert tuition on physical, financial and technical levels, facilitated the rise of players like Jonathan Bell, Anthony Foley and Jeremy Davidson to the senior side.

In 1996 an Ireland Schools side achieved something than none of its predecessors managed . . . they beat Australia and in Canberra at that, justifiably claiming the title of the most successful Ireland Schools side in history. Earlier that season they had won the Triple Crown and followed that with an unbeaten nine-match tour of Australia.

It was a wonderful achievement and one to which coach Keith Patton attaches special memories: "They were a very special group and from day one they displayed a huge commitment to work. It didn't do any harm that they were a talented bunch.

"Even though we had won the Triple Crown, there was no pre-determined Test XV: some of the performances by fringe players gave us, the management, tremendous headaches."

Patton recalls Ireland's victory in the international with great affection but it is a scene before the match that offered a memory he will always cherish and an interesting aside about the double-edged sword that misguided passion can be. "Don't ask me how but Jimmy Smyth, Peter's father, managed to persuade the Australians to play Ireland's Call before the Test.

"I had decided that the full squad of 26 players would line up on the pitch in front of the parents who had travelled: it was a very emotional moment and many of the players wept. It was 15 or 20 minutes before they actually got into the match. It taught me a lesson about over-tweaking the emotional stuff.

"We played the least effective rugby of the tour in the first part of the Test and were 18-8 down at one stage before Bryn Cunningham and Jonathan Davis put us back on level terms. Then we got a sensational try through Ciaran Scally, starting 60 or 70 metres from their line.

"Those final 14 minutes reminded me of New Plymouth in New Zealand in 1992 when a Jeff Wilson penalty deep in injury time robbed an Ireland schools team of victory. The final whistle was a wonderful sensation."

The party were deservedly feted on their return. Those players who remained at home, those who did not travel to England and Scotland to further their education, were immediately recruited to the Foundation programme. There were further exceptions with those who repeated Leaving Certs or had another year at school.

Eighteen months on and it is interesting to note the impact of professionalism on those players: only Peter Bracken and John Campbell are not in third-level education, which dispels the notion that the full-time ethos would be embraced by the new generation.

Despite the Foundation programme, less than half are currently playing first-team rugby and only Blackrock's David Quinlan and Leo Cullen are regularly exposed to AIB Division One standard.

UCD's Academy structure should ensure that scholarship players like exciting full-back Cormac Dowling (currently injured), centre Eamon Travers and scrum-half Ciaran Scally progress. Cullen, Robert Casey (when he returns after a back operation) Bracken, John Campbell, Stephen McConnell, Timothy Cahill and Barry Gibney are others tipped to hit the fast track, securing a place on this season's Ireland under-21 side.