Of the traditional big schools, Blackrock, St Michael's, Belvedere, St Mary's, Terenure and Clongowes all won through and won through well, with the exception of the holders.

In the final minute of an air-tight game between Blackrock and Gonzaga last Sunday, Rock were turned over in front of the Gonzaga posts, and had the decisionmaking in the counter attack been more concise the 64times winners would have found themselves dumped out of the cup in the first round.

With many Leinster representatives throughout Blackrock's backline, they showed only glimpses of their talent. Early on in the game, winger Jan Simon Byrne should have pointed his nose in the direction of the corner instead of cutting back inside. Had his team profited from a try, it would've calmed the nerves and made the game much easier for the holders.

Head coach Ray Ward admitted that turnovers blighted their game in what was ultimately a poor performance. Passes were spilled by both sides, but it was Gonzaga who paid the price for not crossing during the opening 20 minutes, when they played the game mainly in front of the Blackrock 22.

To put things in perspective, all of the big six scored at least 25 points, whilst six of the losing sides scored more points in defeat than Blackrock did in victory.

On Thursday, St Michael's showed their credentials for this year's competition, top scorers of the round with a 34-8 victory over St Gerard's.

To take nothing away from Gerard's they, much like Gonzaga, spent the first third of the game in and around their opponent's 22 and hardly deserved to go in at a deficit of 12-8. The first score of the second half was always going to be decisive and so it proved, a try from Michael's centre Conor Cleary putting his side 17-8 up. Within 15 minutes then, the score was up to 34 points.

Greg McWilliams, head coach of St Michael's, was keen to give great credit to Gerard's for their performance, but keener still to question why people are placing Michael's as favourites for this competition. Unfortunately for him, anyone who had been treated to see their second-half performance will undoubtedly feel that their money would be well spent backing St Michael's.

Having retained a significant number of last year's losing final squad, their aim is to draw from that painful experience to go one step further.

It certainly showed and, out of all of the games this week, it was the St Michael's players who possessed the greatest accuracy with the ball in hand, while the execution of their game plan was spot on.

Their powerful, fast running back row complemented the solid centre pairing of Rory Pratt and Conor Cleary, while scrum-half Stephan Malone is a commanding presence. However, Michael's view themselves as having two men short. Full-back Noel Reid has been bed-ridden with flu for a few weeks now and the unfortunate front row Andrew Pollard, who had just returned from a back injury, must now spend the rest of the season with a cast around his ankle after he sustained an injury during a team run on Tuesday.

Looking at the secondround pairings for both Michael's and Blackrock there is no reason to see why they can't beat their respective opponents of Belvedere College and Kilkenny College.

But, while you would see the cohesion and quality of St Michael's tipping the scales against a well-coached outfit like Belvedere, Blackrock must be wary of the threat posed by a physical Kilkenny side, who will be frothing at the mouth at the prospect of knocking out their illustrious opposition.

The other side of the draw will provide two fascinating games. St Mary's, who were given a tough game against a spirited CUS side, take on Clongowes Wood, who will be in fine fettle having racked up big numbers against High School. Forward power may be the key to this game, as Mary's scrum had trouble against an inexperienced CUS pack and scrum-half Paul Early will attest to that after he was clobbered at the back of a scrum in the buildup to a CUS try.

In centres Stephen Walsh and Conor McGlade, St Mary's possess a complimentary centre pairing. Walsh appears to create time and space under pressure while, in contrast, McGlade's powerful and elusive running is a potent threat. Clongowes backline contains both Leinster under19 player David Kearney (younger brother of Rob) at full-back and Leinster under18's captain Tom Fletcher wearing the number 13 shirt.

The next day, Terenure will take on a young but talented CBC Monkstown team at Templeville Road. Terenure did not have it easy against Castleknock in the first round but they may just fancy themselves against CBC, who look a year short of causing a stir.

On current form you would fancy Michaels to take Blackrock should they meet in the semis, but it is the battle on the other side of the draw that should prove the most intriguing.