Roscrea bridge the years

Brothers John and Oliver bake the brown and white bread in the school's turf-fired, Perkins of Peterborough oven. Brothers Peter and Oliver have become experts of sorts. Baking the bread, mending the oven. Two thirds of the bed baked is white and one third brown.

"The boys prefer white," says Cistercian College Roscrea president Patrick Cronin. "We can't always be health conscious."

Today the media have arrived to ask the Mount St Joseph Abbey and the college to offer up some of its mysteries.

Ushered in under the imposing gothic arches of the main building, there is a buzz about rugby in the place that fizzes around the high ceilings, the marble stairs and out through the tall chimney stacks and spires.

Lansdowne Road on St Patrick's Day has become a day of intense pride for the tight-knit college. Every word is uttered with the glory of the final, against Blackrock College, in mind. This week has been a dream ticket in any teenage rites of passage.

The questions are flying. Why have Roscrea not been in a Leinster Senior schools' rugby final for 58 years? How on earth can a college of 310 students compete against the Blackrock behemoth where more than 310 pupils actually play rugby? Roscrea have around 60 players in total.

"Most of the guys start playing when they arrive into first year," says captain John Phelan. "I took up rugby four years ago."

Coming mainly from GAA backgrounds, the college has always depended on the broad athletic skills of their players. From that material New Zealander and also current Blackrock RC coach Kevin West has shaped one of the strongest teams in the province (Roscrea, for rugby purposes, is in Leinster, not Munster).

In full back Redmond Barry they have a Wexford minor hurler. In midfield, Cian Begley has played Cork minor Gaelic football. Flanker Gerard Corcoran has captained a winning Mayo All-Ireland under-16 football team, while Kilmallockborn number eight Pat McCarthy has played football with the Limerick under-16s. From a panel of 27 players, 13 list county football or hurling as part of their sporting backgrounds.

Others have a genetic heritage that is difficult to ignore. Lock Aaron Spring has a father, Dick, and uncle, Donal, who both played for Ireland, while Sean Byrne's father Ned also earned the privilege of playing for his country. The loosehead prop faces his cousin at Lansdowne Road, the Blackrock flanker and captain Tom O'Donoghue.

To this talent West has added a framework, but more importantly he has brought purpose to the team and encouraged an ethos of defiance in the face of bigger and more powerful opponents.

"The Blackrock pack is probably the most physically strong pack in the competition," says West. "But we can't go through a game avoiding each other, can we? So we'll prepare for it. We are more of a team than the Newbridge team I took to the final before. We've really worked hard on that aspect of the game.

"We are the underdogs. But that is sometimes good. There is an enormous amount of expectation on Blackrock. Any pressure on us comes only from the team itself."

In addition, Roscrea also take confidence from the teams they have left behind in the run in to the final - De la Salle in Athy, Gonzaga in Portlaoise, Castleknock in Donnybrook and Newbridge in Lansdowne Road.

Nor is it the first time they have had an extended run in the competition. On six occasions since 1980 they have made it to the semi-final stage. Terenure ended their runs in 1980, '84, '92 and '98, with Blackrock in 1982 and De la Salle in 1983 proving insurmountable.

Come Wednesday it will take military precision and six buses to escort almost the entire school to Dublin to support the side. With an extensive old-boy network of around 3,500, Roscrea will also expect some familiar faces around Ballsbridge. Some may even remember the last time the college got to a Leinster Cup final.

Dom Colmcille O'Toole, now 35 years an abbot in Roscrea and a student in 1941, certainly does. "I'm the only one in the college, I think, who was here last time we got to the final," says the 75-year-old. "There was a lot more back play then. It is a far more physical game these days."

Although the rhythms of the community in the abbey and school have been gently knocked out of line by the attention of the media, the pace of activity remains relatively tranquil. "The spire of the Abbey Church and the Monastic buildings stand out as one drives in the avenue to the campus which is Mount Saint Joseph Abbey and College," says Dom Colmcille O'Toole.

"The scene provokes the visitor to reflect on monasteries and why men chose to live a life that is different."

Behind the main building, a new sports complex is nearing completion at an estimated cost of £1.8 million. To fit in with the older architecture, it is being designed with the gothic style of the school in mind. Tradition has not been the enemy of progress.

Come Wednesday the school will rise a little earlier than normal, chose the white or brown offerings of Brothers John and Oliver, and go to mass an hour earlier than normal.

"I asked permission of the Abbot to specifically change the time of mass. I believe they would very much want to be part of the day and that enables them to do so," says Patrick Cronin, the first ever lay president.

Roscrea meet Blackrock with their eyes open and expect to win. "We believe in ourselves," says the captain. "We've nothing to lose."