Russian wing helps Blackrock soar

SCHOOLS RUGBY/Blackrock College - 46; Templeogue - 0: Russian left-wing Vasya Artemiev tore Templeogue College apart with four sparkling tries for Blackrock College in the first round of the Leinster Schools' Section C Junior Cup at Donnybrook yesterday.

Artemiev was a danger every time he got his hands on the ball. After centre Luke Fitzgerald, another to impress, shot Blackrock to a fifth-minute lead, Artemiev took off around the outside of the Templeogue defence for the first of three tries before the break.

Centre Niall Morris followed up his own chip ahead to pounce on a bouncing ball in the 19th minute. Artemiev came in off the wing for his second try in the 26th minute, and ran over half the length of the field for his third to make it 25-0 at the break.

Templeogue prop Jonathan Molloy, hooker David Doyle and number eight Niall Cleary fought bravely. Templeogue could have registered a penalty on three occasions in the second-half but each time they chose to go for a try.

Blackrock second row Eoin Costigan and Artemiev provided Fitzgerald with the opportunity to connect with his second and third conversions, before leaving the field with a knee injury, and out-half Eoin Fleck added the points to number eight David O'Connor's try in the 58th minute.

Blackrock will hope that Fitzgerald will recover in time to face the winners of tomorrow's first-round meeting between Cistercian College, Roscrea, and Kilkenny College in the quarter-final.

_{BLACKROCK COLLEGE: C O'Toole; JS Byrne, L Fitzgerald, N Morris, V Artemiev; E Fleck, D Moore; R Donnelly, D O'Brien, W Kavanagh, P Ryan, E Costigan, A Cullen, J Manahan, D O'Connor. Replacements: R Pritzel for Byrne 39 mins; S Rogers for Fitzgerald 47 mins; E Cody for Artemiev 50 mins.}

_{TEMPLEOGUE COLLEGE: D Vickery; P McGuinness, C Morrin, M O'Halloran, S Foran; B McNamara, K Bonner; J Molloy, D Doyle, S Larson, P Hughes, D Langan, D Molloy, C Ryan, N Cleary. Replacements: L McArdle for Foran, S Gavin for Ryan both 41 mins; B Karungendo for McGuinness, S Kelly for J Molloy, S Bonner for D Molloy, A Fanagan for Hughes, C McKiernan for K Bonner, all 57 mins.}

_{Referee: N Lynas (Leinster Branch).}