RUGBY: LEINSTER SCHOOLS’ SENIOR CUP SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW – NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE V CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA
Brew wary of Roscrea as Newbridge College bid to reach Senior Cup final
By Daire Walsh
THEY have had to play the waiting game for the past three weeks, but tomorrow afternoon (4 March) at 4pm in Donnybrook, Newbridge College will face Cistercian College Roscrea in a novel Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup semi-final encounter.
In the history of the competition, Newbridge College have only been crowned champions on two occasions (their most recent victory being in 1970), and despite reaching the 1999 and 2011 deciders, Roscrea are yet to secure the coveted silverware.
It has been a case of mission accomplished for Newbridge in their two previous ties, with a 57-10 success over Kilkenny College being followed by a much-deserved 13-5 win over St Andrew’s College at the quarter-final stage.
Newbridge coach Dave Brew might well have had reason to be pleased with how the draw has panned out, but he reveals why he would have preferred to have drawn either Belvedere College or Clongowes Wood College.
“If I’m honest I would have preferred one of the bigger schools. Personally, more than anything else. No disrespect to Roscrea, but I presume everybody is looking at the semi-final draw and thinking that the overall winners are coming out of the Belvo/Clongowes match,” Brew stated.
“I suppose the other side of it is we played Roscrea twice already. You kind of want to avoid those teams that you’ve played already. When you go up against a team there’s no holding back. There’s no hiding anything. You go out there to win. You’ve shown them your cards and to do that again then. I think it’s probably an easier match for them to approach than us.”
While the earlier rounds of the Senior Cup can often follow a predictable pattern, there have been some major surprises in 2015 – most notably Roscrea’s stunning last-minute victory over 68-time winners Blackrock.
The progress of the Tipperary outfit has certainly captured attention, but having viewed the game itself, Brew wasn’t surprised that Roscrea came out on top.
“Yeah, it was certainly the surprise of the quarter-finals alright. They were fully deserving of it. I thought they played excellently well, and they really played to their strengths. While it took them to the very, very final minute to do it, I think it was well-deserved and fair play to them.”
“They’re a good team. We would have said that about them all year. I think they got what they deserved against Blackrock. I was at the game, and it was absolutely no surprise for me having seen the full game.”
Because of their league final successes against Roscrea in the past two seasons, and their triumph over the same school in the 2014 Senior Cup, it is easy to see why Newbridge might be tipped to reach their first finale since 1996.
Yet, the magnificent performance in the Blackrock game has thrown the attention back towards Roscrea, and Brew knows that his team need to be wary of the new-found confidence of their opponents.
“I know we made a point about our team when we won the league that winning something certainly changes a team. It gives you confidence. We made the same point to them the second we saw the draw.”
“The confidence that will give them going into that match against Newbridge College, having taken out Blackrock, certainly negates any advantage we had from beating them in the league earlier in the season.”
“The lads have been very mature about that. They can see themselves how we became a better team by winning the league. Literally they’re saying ‘why wouldn’t that happen for Roscrea as well?’ We’re looking at this as a massive, massive test for us on Wednesday,” Brew added.