Fair days in Donnybrook and no holds barred

DIARY OF A SCHOOLS RUGBY REPORTER GAVIN CUMMISKEYNEVER THOUGHT I'd say this but I miss the old Donnybrook stand. That's right, the decrepit enclave that at least provided us lowly schools cup reporters with a table to work on. Just because they're called laptops doesn't mean our laps are supposed to support them when we're working to deadlines.

New Donnybrook has been a let-down for the sports journalist. No consideration was given us in the planning of the 2,500 all-seater stand that had its grand opening for the Schools Cup match between Terenure and Belvedere.

There are no press facilities. Zip. Okay, there are plug sockets. It makes the outdated RDS facilities seem almost luxurious.

The Leinster Branch assure us the issue will be discussed at their next meeting with the project manager and architect, who'll sort out the problem "in due course". Sounds like some time in 2009.

It gets better. At several matches the stewards used the "Press Row" (the back row of the stand) as a passageway for people to get to their seats.

You are trying to type - while not banging against the heads of the punters in front - when a players' mother, presumably, glares at you indignantly for not stopping your work to let her pass.

You stop working and allow her past. Repeat process three times before abandoning all hope of supplying the desk with early copy.

The press row soon becomes an overflow area for important-looking "old boys" seeking the choicest vantage point.

That the place is still under construction may explain the damp seats for Blackrock versus Clongowes, Part One.

The new stand cost €6.5 million, looks pretty from a distance and is undoubtedly an improvement for the supporters.

In the past three years - since I began covering schools rugby for The Irish Times- I have often put referees under the microscope.

When reporting on teenagers you become mindful of the life-and-death importance to them of winning "The Cup". Naming names in the context of errors or acts of indiscipline needs to be approached with subtlety - unlike in the men's game, where reporters can be less considerate of individual feelings.

A referee, however, is fair game. The schools competition is used to blood officials but that is little consolation when teams are eliminated because the ref fails to adequately punish repeated cheating at the breakdown (yellow cards are used only as a last resort and the kids know it).

Take the semi-final between Belvedere and Clongowes. Belvo's captain, Tom Sexton, eventually walked (the only sinbinning in 15 Senior Cup games) but only in injury-time after a third warning.

Who could blame the lad? Sexton is a fine leader who took responsibility for Belvedere's safe passage to the March 16th decider against St Mary's. After his departure, Belvedere, defending a 12-7 lead, repelled Clongowes with one last courageous defensive effort.

It was enthralling but each ruck was a mesh of bodies.

In the other semi-final, an act of blatant cynicism by a St Mary's player denied a certain CBC try. There were grounds for a penalty try and sinbinning. CBC had to be content with a penalty from near the touchline; it came to nothing.

The referees have one hand tied behind their backs, and it hardly prepares players for the correct rule interpretations once they leave the school system.

That said, I challenge anybody to find a sporting spectacle in this country to top schools rugby (colleges football and hurling are contenders but they can't consistently draw crowds of over 5,000).

There are a multitude of subplots each year. CBC Monkstown were supposed to be the fairytale story of 2008. A school starved of success for 32 years had a group capable of breaking up the elite five schools that traditionally dominate. The happy ending never materialised, St Mary's winning the semi-final 22-10.

Nermin Lovic is another tale. The giant Belvedere prop, of Ukrainian descent, casts a shadow over all comers. Some 58 minutes into the first-round match against Terenure he was all that remained of a ruck, doubled over, clutching a shoulder. It was a premature end to his season but Lovic remains an inspiration from the sideline.

Before the Cup even began St Michael's prop Mark Kelly was forced to retire after sustaining disc damage in the weights room. They coaching staff made him team manager.

I've covered nine matches so far (two to go); six of which were in the balance until the last play. The intensity of these encounters overshadows everything else; we even forget about the lack of working facilities - until, that is, an editor rings looking for the report.

It's not the worst beat, though. A friend who earns quadruple my wages but grinds away daily in a morbid grey-walled cubicle, called last Tuesday to ask about lunch.

"Can't, John, going to see CBC play St Mary's."

"You've a tough life."

"Yeah, I know. Enjoy your day in . . ." Flatline.