The scoreline says it all, though the manner of this latest Blackrock execution didn't necessarily follow its timehonoured path. In fact, De La Salle, Churchtown were far from dwarfed physically by this latest product of the Williamstown conveyor belt, but had nothing like the cohesive team skills or flair to compete equally.
Tradition decreed that the hours spent on the practice field throughout formative years ensured a sizeable gulf in standard and so this lopsided Coca-Cola Leinster Schools' second round Senior Cup tie was pretty much cast in stone from the off. At least it wasn't thanks to a bulldozing performance from the Blackrock pack.
In truth, it doesn't seem like a vintage Blackrock pack or a particularly sizeable one, the flip side being that in years such as this they are often better to watch. This is a passing and running team, which attempts to play an attractive brand of rugby.
Their well-drilled, rucking pack gave the platform for talented outhalf Andrew Frame to employ closein runners or deftly use his nimble back-line. Centres Conor McNaughton and Shane Sorohan were willing accomplices up close to the gain line, neatly working well-rehearsed miss-moves or loops, and looking to feed a couple of useful wingers in Andrew O'Neill and Noel Ross.
By their own high standards, Blackrock laboured slightly to put away a gamey De La Salle. Faced, for spells, by a ceaseless flow of attacks, De La Salle flirted continually with the offside law, matching Blackrock physically and in numbers around the fringes and in midfield.
De La Salle kept making their tackles and made Blackrock toil for their scores. Blackrock threatened to cut loose, but ultimately never quite did, and in the final analysis, three of their six tries came from forward drives.
De La Salle competed vigorously and captain Mick Kirwan, along with fellow prop, tight-head Conor Lydon, locked a series of early defensive scrums well enough for the impressive-looking Eoghan Hickey to clear his lines with long, raking touch kicks.
All Blackrock had to show for their territorial supremacy entering first-half injury time were a couple of penalties by Paul Drew either side of a close-range try by flanker Niall Walsh after Blackrock's much superior line-out poached an opposition throw to launch a sustained forward drive.
But then the athletic Adrian Kerins laid on more good line-out ball and open-side Gary Browne was again used wide in the line for Drew to send Ross away on a determined 25-yard spring to the corner.
That killed off De La Salle and within seven minutes of the resumption, another Kerins take saw Blackrock rumble forward in textbook fashion for Walsh to claim his second try. Frame linked up with his close-in runners to orchestrate another wave of attacks, culminating in his deftly-looped pass for O'Neill to score in the corner.
Amid several injury-enforced stoppages, substitute Paul Graham was at the end of another line-out drive and finally, the deserving Kerins extended himself to plunder the sixth try. De La Salle, perhaps knowing there wouldn't be another one, enjoyed their day out, although, without being too high and mighty about this, some of the chanting and antics of their unsupervised supporters didn't do them any credit.
Scoring sequence: 7 mins: Drew penalty, 3-0; 18: Walsh try, 8-0; 23: Drew penalty, 11-0; 35: Ross try, 16-0; 42: Walsh try, 21-0; 49: O'Neill try, Drew conversion, 28-0; 57: Graham try, 33-0; 70: Kerins try, 38-0.
BLACKROCK COLLEGE: P Drew; A O'Neill, S Sorohan, C McNaughton, N Ross; A Frame, J Sullivan; N Hopkins, G McEvoy, N Treston (capt), A Kerins, G McCarthy, N Walsh, A Martin, G Browne. Replacements: P Graham for Browne (50 mins), P Van Esbeck for Walsh (59 mins).
DE LA SALLE CHURCHTOWN: G Hamill; J Corcoran, G O'Reilly, R O'Neill, M O'Sullivan; E Hickey, F McCarthy; M Kirwan (capt), G Stewart, C Lydon, D Brennan, A O'Neill, D McManmon, A Brady, A Neary. Replacements: I McDonald for McManmon (half-time), O Malone for Corcoran (half-time), J D'Alton for O'Sullivan (48 mins), D McNamara for McCarthy, C McCabe for Lydon, W Wright for Stewart, G Minto for Brady (64 mins).
Referee: D Woods (ARLB).
