Kieran Shannon: What lessons can schools and club rugby take from lockdowns?

While the Six Nations begins this weekend and professional rugby has continued since August, there’s been virtually no schools and club rugby over the last 11 months, causing serious disruption to the heart and future of the sport here. Kieran Shannon discovered how those at grassroots level have been forced to adapt and how the sport needs to change to keep the game’s supply lines ticking.

Newbridge College were due to play Clongowes College in the Leinster Senior Cup final last March. The players didn’t even get to convene as a unit again until a jersey presentation ceremony in mid-December. Picture: Brian Reilly-Troy

"One wouldn't have put a Coca-Cola bottle outside yesterday. The driving rain, exacerbated by a strong wind and the cloying mud of a sodden Lansdowne Road surface made conditions for the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup final virtually unplayable. That the game produced such a tense finale is down to the grit and resolution of both sides who refused to buckle in spirit. St Mary's College prevailed [over Belvedere] but the issue was in doubt right up until replacement out-half Jonathan Sexton dropped a fine goal on 67 minutes. For a 16-year-old it took both presence of mind and a strong constitution to strike the ball so assuredly in front of a crowd of 11,980."

- Irish Times, March 18, 2002