Blackrock College booked their place in the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-finals with a dominant 57-14 win over Presentation College Bray in miserable conditions.
By Ned Quigley, Irish Schools Rugby Correspondent
It took Blackrock two minutes to score the game’s opening try with centre James Brown gliding through defenders to touch down under the posts, which was converted by scrumhalf Luke Coffey.
Pres Bray were playing their second game in just 4 days after a replay of their first-round fixture against Gerard’s. It put them at a significant disadvantage, but they refused to go down without a fight.
Blackrock continued to pile on the pressure and pinned Pres in their 22 and forced them to clear their lines resulting in a rock lineout. Smooth hands from White put eighth man Thomas Keaveney in a gap, but a good scramble defence from Pres delayed the inevitable. Quick hands though eventually led to Bernard white going over, a successful conversion by Coffey putting Blackrock 14-0 up after just 7 minutes.
A brilliant exit from fullback Rhys Keogh forced Pres Bray to spill the ball into touch on the 22 giving Blackrock the perfect opportunity to mount an attack. The competition’s most successful sides were brave, throwing to the back in grim conditions, but their risk paid off. Bernard White ran a hard line off the side of the maul slicing through the defence to score their third try inside of 10 minutes, Coffey added the extras to put his side 21-0 up.
An immediate break off the restart from Rhys Keogh left Blackrock on the try line and fast ball from Coffey allowed prop Ben Geurin to bundle over, a missed conversion leaving them 26-0 up.
Blackrock refused to slow down and there was little that Pres could do about it, they continued to truck it up the middle with their physically commanding pack. A lovely box kick from Coffey forced a knock on giving Blackrock another dangerous attacking set piece. This time wing Alex Aschenbrenner took on the responsibility and weaved through the defence, Coffey once again nailed the conversion to leave the score 33-0 after 13 minutes.
Pres got their first opportunity at a meaningful attack after a quarter of an hour, with a successful line out but a knock on in the midfield stymied the opportunity. A smart dink over the top by Coffey forced Pres to clear their lines but unfortunately not far enough giving Blackrock another dangerous opportunity.
Blackrock resorted to brute force and drove over the try line for flanker Patrick Agnew to touch down, Coffey adding the extras. Pres refused to give up though and after a ruck infringement by Blackrock, Pres tapped and went, their forwards bravely battered the try line until flanker Rory Hussman-Byrne went over, with Sean McDonald nailing the extras to leave the score 40-7.
Blackrock wanted more though, a Pres overthrow claimed by Harry O’Niel gave them the opportunity they wanted and it didn’t take long for Ben Geurin to crash over for his second try, a gust of wind forced Paddy Scally to attempt a drop goal that was unsuccessful. Pres had an opportunity to go down the line but a slightly overcooked kick went dead to bring up half time.
Blackrock didn’t take long to strike once again from the restart of the second half, with Stephen Maloney taking the ball right to the line before perfectly picking out Browne to put him in a hole, a lovely run resulted in another 5 points after a missed conversion.
Pres scrum half Sean McDonald switched point of attack of scrum and a lovely dink in behind to touch his fullback Robert Brennan Tkacz but the opposition cleared their lines well. However a penalty against them for a no arms tackle allowed Pres to go to the corner and maul, out half Luca Nolan then attempted a crossfield that was contested well but Blackrock ultimately came out with the ball and attempted to play from deep and a break up the side from Aidan Vetjens who used his blistering pace to score Blackrock’s 9th try which was converted by Paddy Scally.
Still though, Pres refused to give in and fought their way up the pitch with big carries from their forwards, and a lovely hands from the backs put Joe Byrne over in the corner which was finished with a marvellous kick from Robert Brennan Tkacz.
Blackrock attempted to come back up the pitch but a good defensive shift from Pres held them out until a knock on called time on the game.
Full Time: Blackrock College 57-14 Presentation College Bray
Teams:
Blackrock College: Rhys Keogh; Aiden Vetjens, James Browne, Bernard White, Alex Aschenbrenner; Paddy Scally, Luke Coffey; Louis Magee, Harry O’Neill, Ben Guerin, George Eggars, Cian McCarron, Conal Power, Paddy Agnew, Tom Keaveney.
Replacements: Lorcan Golden for Keaveney – temp; Stephen Moloney for Keogh, Rocky Kenneally for Eggars, Lorcan Golden for Magee, Luke Kelly for Guerin. Lucas Hill for Keaveney, Conor White for Browne, Charlie Martin for B White, Jamie Shanley for Coffey, Louis Magee for Agnew.
Presentation College Bray: Robert Brennan Tkacz; Joe Byrne, Liam Mooney, Phelim Doyle, Aaron Elmes; Luca Nolan, Sean McDonald; Marc Lawless, Eoin Croysdil, Harry Graham, Dan Corrigan, Matt McGovern, Rory Hussman Byrne, Rory Wrafter, Alex O’Dowd.
Replacements: Rhys Pearse for Graham, Eli Denver for Corrigan, Max Tully-Walshe for Wrafter, Connor James for Doyle, Artem Kelly for Hussman Byrne, Ethan O’Neill for Mooney, Charlie Kane for Byrne, Oscar Nolan for Brennan Tkacz.
Referee: P Reidy, Leinster Branch.
