Schools Rugby Leinster Senior Cup/ Blackrock College 6 Gonzaga College 3:The tears on the faces of the Gonzaga players as they broke from their post-match huddle required no explanation. Defeat is rarely palatable but for that cluster of green-shirted players it was excruciating.
The question "what if?" lingered in the immediate aftermath of yesterday's Leinster Schools Senior Cup match at Donnybrook, a game that pitted one of the pre-cup favourites and defending champions, Blackrock, and a Gonzaga team that had won a league title - it doesn't include the elite schools - earlier this season.
The accepted wisdom was the Ranelagh school would make things difficult for a time but Blackrock would ultimately prevail. Gonzaga hadn't read the script and for most of the proceedings their opponents fluffed their lines repeatedly, in more ways than one.
There were flaws to Blackrock's patterns, option taking and sundry other aspects of their game but ultimately they deserve credit for the character displayed in toughing this one out.
At key moments players managed to avert potentially hazardous situations with gritty, disciplined defence and an ability to scramble after an initial line breach. It was a trait shared by their opponents.
Another aspect common to both teams was an inability to take and give a pass while drawing the defender. If either side had unlocked that facet of the game then a passage to the next round would have been less fraught.
Blackrock overdosed on muscularity, choosing collisions rather than seeking out a soft shoulder or, even more apposite, space.
Jason Harris-Wright, Ross Ronayne and James Leyden were willing battering rams but a tendency, having made yardage, to overload the short side and clutter corridors made Blackrock easier to defend against. In wings Robert Johnson and Jan Simon Byrne the winners had players with the twin attributes of pace and nifty footwork, but they were rarely given space to thrive.
Gonzaga demonstrated a great team ethic and threw body and soul into the contest. They also received the rough end of a couple of refereeing decisions.
The first involved their outstanding secondrow Dan O'Sullivan, who appeared to win the race to the touchdown after a Blackrock back-line move had broken down and the ball was hacked over the line.
Referee Éanna O'Dowd awarded Gonzaga a five-metre scrum, a decision whose merits were far from obvious.
The second incident will grate even more and took place from the resulting scrum.
Shane Gahan - the centre had a fine game in partnership with captain Donal Ó Cofaigh - ran a cutback line and, having ridden the first tackle, appeared to stretch out and touch the ball against the padding on the post. In the old days it would have been a try, assuming the post touched the post - and the player was adamant it had. Yesterday, the upshot was another five-metre scrum: maybe there are new laws.
Gonzaga profited from an excellent team performance but it would be churlish not to single out the contributions of several players apart from those already named.
Matthew Healy's tackle count was prodigious; hooker Aonghus O'Rourke was a human dynamo; Dominic Ryan and Cillian Hussey were superb in the back row.
However, not only his team's but the game's outstanding performer was the Gonzaga number eight Dan Kane, whose skills matched his work ethic.
Gonzaga had enjoyed first use of the wind.
The teams were tied 3-3 at the interval, the penalties kicked by the outhalves, Blackrock's Darragh Fitzpatrick and William McEvoy.
When Fitzpatrick kicked a second penalty one minute after the restart few expected it would be the final score of the game.
No one could fault the industry of either team - or the tension as the ebb and flow of the match threw up several scoring opportunities.
Gonzaga should be proud of their performance, Blackrock content they are in the next round, one step closer to repeating last year's feat.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: Fitzpatrick penalty, 3-0; 23: W McEvoy penalty, 3-3. Half-time: 3-3; 36: Fitzpatrick penalty, 6-3.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: I Madigan; R Johnson, S Rogers (capt), J Ronan, J Simon Byrne; D Fitzpatrick, C Crowley; J Leyden, D Tunney, S Schuster; M Cawley, E Sheriff; R Ronayne, R Smith, J Harris-Wright. Replacement: T Parsons for Smith (42 mins).
GONZAGA COLLEGE: D McEvoy; S Ryan, D Ó Cofaigh (capt), S Gahan, C Coghlan; W McEvoy, M Healy; C Murphy, A O'Rourke, J Caslin; I McGreal, D O'Sullivan; D Ryan, C Hussey, D Kane. Replacements: E O'Keeffe for Caslin (60 mins); N Hanratty for S Ryan (64 mins).
Referee: E O'Dowd(Leinster).
