 In his first year there, he was heavily involved in their successful march on the Munster Schools Junior Cup in 1997.He played for Rockwell Senior Cup Team for three years, the first of which he played at inside centre, before switching back to his more favoured backrow position of number 8.During this time, he was called to Clongowes for trials for the Ireland Schools team and ended up playing a key role in the Irish Schools' tour of Australia in 2000 when they won all eight games.