Schools represent purity of the game

Tomorrow afternoon, the Donnybrook ground will be packed to capacity for the meeting of Belvedere College and St Mary's College in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup. Over the coming weeks the ground will reverberate to the exhortations of many a full house as the competition progresses. So, too, will many another ground around the country, for truly can it be said that the schools cups are something special.

The schools cups have started and the pulse races just a little bit faster at this time of year in anticipation. The competitions have a unique atmosphere. Nor has their appeal diminished through the years. On the contrary, it has widened as new schools enter the scene.

In this professional era of unedifying controversy, accusation and threat, how completely refreshing it will be to watch the matches played with all the intensity that the human spirit can call upon.

The schools cups are about glory, honour and pride in a cause - may I say, a noble cause. Talk to any player, however eminent his subsequent career, and he will recall with immense enthusiasm the pleasure he got in the schools arena. The memories last as long as memory holds. At no level of the game is so much enthusiasm and family involvement so pronounced. That is schools rugby, which now undoubtedly represents the purity of the game.

The senior cups in Ulster and Leinster have graced the scene for well over 100 years. The Ulster Senior Cup has been on the calendar since 1876, when Armagh Royal became the first school to win a provincial cup. The Leinster Senior Cup was inaugurated the next year, and Blackrock College, the greatest of all cup exponents, won, the first of over 60 triumphs, a truly remarkable record.

It was not until 1909 that the Munster Schools Senior Cup was inaugurated, but back in the last century the two great Cork rugby schools, Presentation Brothers College and Christian Brothers College, competed for the Cork Senior Schools Cup. It was to Christians went the honour of winning the inaugural Munster title, but it is Pres who head the roll of honour at both senior and junior levels.

The Connacht Senior Cup started in 1913 and was won by Garbally, and the Ballinasloe college has been the dominant force on the Connacht scene. Connacht struggled for a long time on the schools scene, hindered by bigotry as the game was banned in some schools. But how splendid it is to be able to say that the game at schools level has never been stronger in Connacht. Last season a new name was inscribed on the plinth of the junior Cup when Portumna won the trophy.

Schools rugby has always been absolutely crucial to the development, evolution and propagation of the game in this country and its importance is no less today. For a long time, the schools scene was the only area of development for youngsters. Now, happily, that has changed as much more time and attention is devoted to getting the young who do not go to rugby-playing schools involved. In that regard, Limerick led the way (as in so many other respects) and clubs like Young Munster, Shannon and others deserve immense credit for the way their doors were open to all. I would make the point, too, that the clubs in rural Ireland did a tremendous job in this respect.

AS SPORT builds character, so too does it reveal character, and the image recurs of countless great matches at schools level through the years. The best match - and what a host of games from which to choose - will always be a matter of personal choice, decreed perhaps by affinity with a particular school. For my own part, one match, and I have reported hundreds over the years, will always stand high on my list. The events at the Oxford University ground, Iffley Road, on the evening of April 18th, 1990, are imperishable in my memory.

The Ireland Schools defeated England that evening by 15-6 to win the Triple Crown at this level for the first time. It was also the first time the Ireland schools had won on English soil, and the win was the product of a truly magnificent performance that embraced all the best elements of the schools game: skill, courage, resolution and total commitment.

The Ireland side that performed that great feat is worth naming: Ronan Garvey (De La Salle, Churchtown); Denis O'Dowd (Rockwell), Robert Casey (CBC Cork), Richie Hunter (Methodist Belfast), Gary Collins (Methodist); David Humphreys (Ballymena Academy), Fergal Downes (Crescent Comprehensive); Paul Parker (RBAI), Graeme Purdy (Regent House), Paul Wallace (Crescent Comprehensive), Neil Nolan (Roscrea), Roger Wilson (RBAI), Liam Toland (Crescent Comprehensive), Frank Butler (Blackrock), Andrew Deyermond (Methodist).

Quite a few went on to win senior interprovincial honours; two, Wallace and Humphreys will be playing against Scotland next week, and Roger Wilson and Liam Toland are A caps.

Three years later, Ireland won the Triple Crown yet again, this time clinching the title by beating England 13-8 at Ravenhill. The side that achieved that win included Jan Cunningham, James Topping, Ray McIlreavy, Fergal Campion, Denis Hickie, Conor McGuinness, Kieron Dawson and Eric Miller. In 1996 Ireland won the under-21 Triple Crown and Hickie, McIlreavy, Cunningham, Campion, Miller and Dawson were on the side. So too was scrum-half Brian O'Meara and full back Dominic Crotty, while Malcolm O'Kelly played in the win over England but was then required for the Ireland A side.

In 1996, Ireland won the schools Triple Crown for the third time and then went on to conqueror all on the tour of Australia. That is a great record in the space of seven years. No better decision was taken by the IRFU than that to enter the schools arena in 1975 and the under-21 sphere a decade ago. Both sides have excellent records. The schools have lost just once to Scotland in over 20 years, the under-21 side have never lost to the Scots and have beaten England five times in seven meetings, including the last three seasons. The fall down internationally is not happening between the schools and under-21 scene: it has come, unfortunately, further along the line. It is a subject to which I will return.

In the interim, we can all look forward to having the heart and the spirit lifted by the schools cup competitions.

Last week, I mentioned there is now a good argument for selecting Ireland sides from home-based players and that this could well be the policy in the near future. Due to a production problem, the reference I made to the position of the players currently on contract in England did not appear. The view I expressed was that, in fairness to them, they are entitled to be considered until their current contracts run out.