SCHOOLS RUGBY
St Mary’s at the double for Newbridge College
By Daire Walsh
ST Mary’s College are set to be familiar foes for Newbridge College in 2017, after the two schools were paired together in the Leinster Schools’ Cup draws last Monday evening in the Bank Of Ireland on Dublin’s College Green.
Newbridge will meet Mary’s in both the Junior and Senior Cup competitions in the new year, when the south Kildare school will be aiming to replicate the successes they have enjoyed against the Rathmines school in recent seasons.
Their 2014 victory over Mary’s in a Senior Cup quarter-final arrived two years on from a similar win over the Metropolitans at junior level, but Newbridge College coach Dave Brew stressed how important it is to respect the tradition that they bring to these competitions.
“Mary’s, they have a great tradition. They haven’t really figured that much recently, but who’s to say that’s not this year. They’ve a very proud rugby tradition up there. For me, it’s a tie that going to be won on the day. We’ve to show it all the respect it deserves and I’m sure Mary’s will show us respect too,” Brew remarked.
Having been involved with the senior squad in recent years, Brew is working once again with the junior side this season. Niall Smullen and Naas RFC star Ben Swindlehurst are the key figureheads for Newbridge at senior level, but Brew admits that the school’s double-header with Mary’s adds considerable intrigue.
“An interesting one when it came out. Again, I think it’s a tie that’s going to be won the day for the seniors as well. Very hard to know how the big teams are doing in Dublin when they don’t play league.”
“Whereas our league form is there for everyone to see. We [seniors] reached the [league] quarter-finals. Very unlucky to lose in the last kick of the game. We’re definitely there or thereabouts, and we’ll see how we get on against them.”
Following a very productive 2014 campaign (when they were narrowly beaten by eventual winners Cistercian College Roscrea in a semi-final replay), Newbridge suffered a comprehensive reversal at the hands of an exceptional Belvedere College in the first round of last season’s Senior Cup.
Brew agrees that this will be a massive motivation for this year’s squad, but acknowledged that the nature of the draw made life difficult for the 2015/16 group.
“It’s funny in the cup draw, the way you can have a brilliant team and be out in the first round, and you can have a team that isn’t so good that gets a draw, and you’re into the semis.”
“Certainly last year’s team are an excellent side, and we just ran into the force that is Belvo last year. There’s not much could be done on that day.”
“Roscrea gave them a very good game in the final, but definitely Belvo were well deserving of the title. For us, it didn’t say anything about us that we went out in the first round. If that draw went another way, it could have been us against Belvo in the final. You just take that, that’s the draw, that’s the way that the Leinster Cup is played.”
Before Brew’s junior side can focus on their Cup campaign after Christmas, there is the small matter of a Leinster Schools’ Junior League Division 1A decider against Kilkenny College. Newbridge progressed as a result of their impressive semi-final triumph over Gonzaga College at Donnybrook last Thursday, and Brew was delighted with the way the team responded to a 12-point interval deficit.
“We were disappointed with ourselves in the first-half. I think the occasion maybe [affected us]. It’s our first time playing in Donnybrook, and just the build-up to it today and everything. We haven’t put our finger on it, but we had 15 minutes where we were very tame and didn’t really do ourselves justice.”
“Gonzaga took full advantage of it. They’re a very dangerous side, and they were fully deserving of their lead at half-time. Second-half, I think you saw the real us.”
“The heart came back, the passion came back. We started fronting up defensively, and I think got what we deserved in the end,” Brew added.