Rockwell eager to stay in the limelight

There was a time in the distant past when it would have been unthinkable for a decade to pass without the name of Rockwell College being inscribed on the Avonmore Supermilk Munster Schools Senior Cup trophy.

One of the big three, along with Cork nurseries Christian and Presentation Brothers College, Rockwell have won the big prize 24 times and have been beaten finalists on 15 occasions. Yet, in the last 40 years, the famous Tipperary school has enjoyed just four victories. By the high standards set by the school since the inception of the competition way back in 1909, that is a poor return. But, while fans of Munster schools rugby have been unable to grasp just exactly what has been going wrong, current manager Tony Smith puts it down to an increased level of competitiveness.

“From our point of view, it was hard to comprehend because in that period between 1970 and 1985 [their next victory] there were actually good teams in the school,” he said.