Newbridge College will appear in back-to-back semi-finals of the Leinster Rugby Schools Senior Cup, after a 17-10 win over Belvedere at Energia Park.

The Kildare students started strongly with a try in the opening seconds, despite being underdogs they continued to build on this until the final whistle, a strong showing from them.

Belvedere will feel hard done by as so many unlucky incidents, saw them suffer defeat as they failed to get a rub of the green all afternoon. Tadhg Brophy instrumental in the performance of Newbridge.

It was a brilliant start for Newbridge as they had their first try within 30 seconds, a great kick in behind by scrum half Brophy was not dealt with by the Belvedere defence, winger Todd Lawlor showed his pace to sprint after a little touch with his boot to cross over, Paddy Taylor kicked the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Taylor continued Newbridge’s positive start to the tie, landing a close-range penalty to give them a 10-0 advantage after seven minutes. Newbridge looked more composed as everything seemed to go wrong for Belvedere in the early exchanges.

Try scorer Lawlor was forced off as a blood sub in the 13th minute, his replacement Calum Corcoran was only on the field a matter of seconds before he crossed in the corner for their second try, an immediate impact from the substitute as Taylor kicked them into a 17-0 lead.

Brophy again involved in the build up, this time chasing down another kick in behind, he kept the ball in play before another fortuitous bounce led to their second try, Newbridge having all the luck in the opening half, as Belvedere were riddled with errors.

Belvedere managed to get on the board after 25 minutes, a much needed score to get after a horrible opening showing in the half with uncharacteristic errors seeing them trail, their pack managed to show their strength, prop Eoin McDermot getting over to score an important try.

Newbridge remained on the front foot for the remainder of the half, but with Lawlor off they also lost Taylor to a head injury in the half, an entertaining contest in truth as they took a 17-5 lead to the interval.

It was a cagey start to the second half as both teams looked to attack with intent, both had chances but Newbridge looked to be pinned back for a lot of the early exchanges, their defence strong and disciplined to win back possession and keep Belvedere away, as luck was not on the Dublin schools side.

Newbridge held their line until the 67th minute, a great drive by Daniel O’Leary saw him tackled wonderfully within inches of the line by Brophy, but in the resulting phases their forward line showed power, Alex Usanov managing to cross for their second try, the missed conversion making it a seven point game 17-10.

The try setup late drama at Energia Park, Belvo kicked a penalty into the corner their lineout needed to be perfect, they played it well but in the maul an illegal move saw the referee give a penalty to Newbridge, that proved to be the game as Tom Bohan booted the ball into touch.