“Once the scrum goes unopposed it’s like a game of rugby league. I’m an old fashioned boy from the Welsh coal-mining towns so the scrum was the platform and that differentiated the game more than anything. I would like to see a directive that you’d have two specialist props and a hooker on the bench.”

St Michael’s secured a Leinster Schools Senior Cup final shot with holders Clongowes Wood after a titanic tussle with Kilkenny at Donnybrook yesterday.