Belvedere College 35 Blackrock College 29
It took a replay to separate these two in what's been an all-time classic Leinster Schools Senior Cup quarter-final - with Belvedere eventually edging it at Donnybrook on Monday afternoon.
Usually, the second helping doesn’t quite live up to the first on occasions when so much is expected, especially from men so young.
But from first whistle to last, this had the large crowd rising in unison in the stand to appreciate the tempo and tenacity of the entertainment.
The wide passing game of Belvedere, where outhalf David Hawkshaw and centre Hugh Sexton were their primers, was their secret to success.
It was a high risk strategy that could have turned to disaster were the ball to be flung slightly out of range of the receiver. It was a case of a coach, Phil Werahiko, putting his trust in the skills of his players.
The first time they used it, the connection ate up territory which Belvedere were able to translate into a try for centre Conor Jennings from Sexton’s offload down the short side.
This was the trigger for Blackrock to reveal the biggest weapon in their arsenal as flanker Hugo Burke held the ball at the tail of a maul for the first of his hat-trick of tries in the twelfth minute.
It would be too simplistic to define it as a match of magic against muscle.
The Williamstown school had many strike runners to draw on, none netter than centre Gavin Mullin and fullback James McGowan in behind a wonderful one-on-one between the scrum-halves Luke Gaffney and Paraic Cagney.
The sizzling footwork of outhalf Conor Dean and Burke’s second armchair ride to the line gave ‘Rock a two-score lead (19-8), the latter coming just after Belvedere’s Sean McNulty had been binned in what looked like a decisive move in the 26th minute.
It was then the Back and Whites who reeled off 15 unanswered points with wing Peter Maher striking for two wonder tries and Jennings adding five from placed balls for a 23-19 lead at the break.
The pace simply never let-up.
But, it was Burke’s comfort at the back of another maul and McGowan’s ice-cool conversion that turned the tables yet again.
It just went on. Give and take. Tit for tat. Belvedere’ number eight Tom de Jongh’s fine line onto the ball and power generated beyond the gain line was too much to handle.
Jennings conversion made it 30-26 in the 47th minute.
The impact of Hawkshaw in getting two touches in one movement was the key to opening the door and worked to Belvedere’s benefit as they had the breathing space of holding a two-score lead.
Blackrock simply went back to their patterns. McGowan smacked a penalty to set up a grandstand finish in which Max Kearney had to make a bone-crunching tackle to cut off the supply line to Blackrock’s speed men.
It was rugby from the Gods as Blackrock countered yet again against a body-on-the-line defence which just about held out.
From here, Belvedere will need every one of the ten days to their semi-final showdown with St Michael’s.
Belvedere: H O'Sullivan; J McKeown, C Jennings, H Sexton, P Maher; D Hawkshaw, P Cagney; D McCaffrey, C Galvin, C Walsh, H Fenlon, B Egan (capt), S McNulty, M Kearney, T de Jongh.
Replacements: Replacements: J Iredale for McNulty, J Kenny for Fenlon both 60 mins; F Flood for Cagney 67 mins.
Blackrock: J McGowan; P Patterson, G Mullin, L Turner, C Kelly; C Dean, L Gaffney; E Burns, S McLaughlin, R Mouatt, C O'Flaherty, C Ryan, R Dunne, H Burke, C Doris (capt).
Replacements: G Coyne for Mouatt 33 mins - temp; J Fairley for Burke 47 mins; F Power for Kelly, J Gardiner for O’Flaherty, P Cullen for Gaffney all 60 mins; H Egleston for McLaughlin, C Connolly for Burns both 66 mins.
Referee: Dermot Blake, Leinster Branch.
