Schools Rugby 2018-19

[bgmusic]

Gonzaga win 22/19. First ever final for them.

[blockhead]

John Cooney@JCooney09
Incredible result @Gonzagadublin ,making our first ever senior cup final. Proud day #GreenMachine

[backrower8]

Gonzaga are a really well drilled, fit side with lots of rugby intelligence. Will have to play a bit more rugby than they did in the second half to win the final. Well worth their place in the final and the JCT have a decent chance against St Michael's in their semi next week.

The referee was OTT in not allowing the defending teams compete at the ruck calling "release" and "off your feet now" far too early. Otherwise he was very good but rucks are a major part of the game and he neutered them altogether...the game is closer to rugby league.

Great skills on show from both teams.

[mildlyinterested]

Impressed by Barry, Fitzgerald and Connolly for zaga

[backrower8]

Impressed by Barry, Fitzgerald and Connolly for zaga

Yes and Coolican is on that level for me too.

Colbert was eclipsed by Connolly today but has a very rounded game. Godson is very effective at what he does as is Hennessy.

The standard of 9s and 10s has been exceptional and if anything it looks like teams are playing more through their 9s than any other position owing to the lack of space. Very cutting edge to see this happen.

[mildlyinterested]

Big one today now.

Think Michaels will sneak it.

[TrapperChamonix]

Gonzaga are a really well drilled, fit side with lots of rugby intelligence. Will have to play a bit more rugby than they did in the second half to win the final. Well worth their place in the final and the JCT have a decent chance against St Michael's in their semi next week.

The referee was OTT in not allowing the defending teams compete at the ruck calling "release" and "off your feet now" far too early. Otherwise he was very good but rucks are a major part of the game and he neutered them altogether...the game is closer to rugby league.

Great skills on show from both teams.

Hands down the better team won. But if I was CWC I would have felt that the ref let Gonzaga compete much more of the ball. 2 incidents stood out. The penalty to bring it to 15 - 19 was not kicked out by the CWC counter ruck and the was a crucial penalty given against CWC no 7 where ref pointed to him and said he was the tackler and hadn't released. Ref was 100% wrong.

Jackling passing skills by Gonzaga were fantastic, but also a bonus to see them dominate the scrum. Great skills all over the pitch. One negative, the lineout (both sides) looks suspect. But then again thats the case for lots of SCT teams .

Great game and both sides should be proud. Well done Gonzaga for their 1st final.A proud moment. They lost to the runner up for the last 4 years in a row. Its an odd stat but it goes to show that it will take a good team and good performance to beat them

[mildlyinterested]

nearly every team has seen their lineout struggle.. maybe belvo have had the best one?

[mildlyinterested]

Belvedere College

15. Rory Dwyer(6th); 14. Simon Murphy(5th), 13. Cailean Mulvaney(6th), 12. John Meagher(6th), 11. Matthew Grogan(6th); 10. Justin Leonard(6th), 9. Patrick Lysaght(6th);
1. Hugh Flood(5th), 2. Andrew Synnott(6th), 3. Conor Cagney(6th), 4. Jed Jones(6th), 5. Cormac Yalloway(6th), 6. Eoghan Rutledge(4th), 7. Aaron Coleman (6th)(capt), 8. Alekseiy Soroka(6th).

St. Michaels College

15. Andrew Smith(6th); 14. Edward Kelly(5th), 13. Chris Cosgrave(5th), 12. Simon O’Kelly(5th), 11. Mark O’Brien(6th); 10. Niall Carroll(5th), 9. Robert Gilsenan(6th);
1. Jack Boyle(5th), 2. Lee Barron(5th), 3. Fionn Finlay(6th), 4. Stephen Woods(4th), 5. John Fish(6th), 6. Jack Guinane(5th), 7. Mark Hernan (6th)(capt), 8. William Hickey(5th)

[TrapperChamonix]

Michaels unchanged. Belvo bring back Mulvaney and Simon Murphy returns for his 1st SCT match. I perfer Soroko in the row, but he can play anywhere. Should be a good game.

[mildlyinterested]

interested to see Murphy, probably a uphill battle to keep him away from GAA.

hope its a cracker.

[backrower8]

Hands down the better team won. But if I was CWC I would have felt that the ref let Gonzaga compete much more of the ball.

Agreed, they did better out of him but he really was intimidating to any first tackler or jackaler on both sides, telling them loudly "hands off", it was "lost" or they were "off their feet" when none was the case. He is very, very verbal and while good, we don't need referees dominating proceedings.

Great game and both sides should be proud. Well done Gonzaga for their 1st final. A proud moment. They lost to the runner up for the last 4 years in a row. Its an odd stat but it goes to show that it will take a good team and good performance to beat them

Great stat! In 2016 they lost to Roscrea in the QF, since then they have changed coach who has taken everything up a few notches from an already very good base with the results being worthy losses in the semi, quarter and now the final. They have only lost two games this year. An early one to Roscrea and a 21-12 defeat away to Michael's in the last match before the cup with both team at full strength. They are worthy and their JCT have a shot in the semis against Michael's.

[mildlyinterested]

Zaga have been lucky to avoid one of the big three, but still have done very well.

Will be up against it whoever the face in the final.

good to see another league school make final

[TrapperChamonix]

Zaga have been lucky to avoid one of the big three, but still have done very well.

Will be up against it whoever the face in the final.

good to see another league school make final

They may not be favourites, but a route of Castleknock (league finalists) Terenure and CWC isn't the most straight forward route.

[backrower8]

Zaga have been lucky to avoid one of the big three, but still have done very well.

Will be up against it whoever the face in the final.

good to see another league school make final

They may not be favourites, but a route of Castleknock (league finalists) Terenure and CWC isn't the most straight forward route.

Yes, and they won the league in the process. It is very good for the competition to have a new, worthy, finalist.

[backrower8]

Re Gonzaga. The most recent school to get into their 1st ever SCT final was CBC Monkstown in 1976...and they won it!

[cylerwhaa]

Surely the most recent was Michaels in 1988, they lost!

[Jcahill1]

Any streams for the game?

[lotmc]

Michaels win 16-15. Sounds like a cracker of a game

[mildlyinterested]

Michaels win 16-15. Sounds like a cracker of a game

Was excellent