Lion king Tony learnt how to be a winner by losing at Belvo
IT’S a close-run thing but Belvo’s most famous rugby alumni is probably still Sir Anthony O’Reilly.
O’Reilly was a staggering schoolboy talent who made his Ireland debut at 18 and took South Africa by storm a few months later with the 1955 Lions, but his year group was weak by Belvedere standards and his rugby career there was not notably successful.
In 1951 he captained the school’s U15 XV but they lost 3-0 the first round of the Leinster Cup to Castleknock after the first two ties between the schools had resulted in 0-0 draws. Sound like thrillers.
He was immediately promoted to the First XV the following year aged 15 but still no joy, this time Belvedere lost 12-0 to Terenure in the third round of the senior cup. Nor was it a case of third time lucky because the following season despite O’Reilly scoring 25 tries in regular season games, Terenure again beat Bevlo, this time 8-0 in the first round.
By 1954 a much stronger year group was coming through to help O’Reilly, who was captaining the First XV, and they got all the way to the final before losing to 11-3 to a Blackrock team captained by Niall Brophy, who was to become a great friend.
Within a year O’Reilly was a star of the world game with Ireland – with whom he rarely scored tries – and for the Lions in whose colours he could not stop scoring.
In that final year of school’s rugby O’Reilly had been unstoppable scoring 42 tries but during his time at school the only sporting silverware he actually won was the Leinster junior schools cricket cup.
After leaving Belvedere his rugby and business careers accelerated at an astonishing rate. Picked by Ireland after half a season of senior rugby with the Old Belvedere club, he was soon on the plane to South Africa with the Lions where he proved something of a sensation, his combination of power and pace being ideal for the conditions.
He proved equally successful with 1959 Lions and finished his Lions career with the impressive tally of 36 tries in 38 matches – 16 in South Africa and 22 in New Zealand and Australia. That total includes six Test tries which is still a record.
Meanwhile, ever the enthusiastic tourist seemingly immune to hangovers, he scored 38 tries in 30 appearances for the Barbarians. In 1970 he famously came out of a seven-year international retirement to play for an Ireland team hard pressed by injuries one more time. They lost 9-3 to England in the game where Bob Hiller kicked two monster dropped goals.
As a globetrotting business man with a myriad of interests, he eventually ended up as the MD of the Heinz Corporation before diversifying to Waterford Wedgewood and the Independent News and media group. He was often touted as Ireland’s first billionaire before he incurred big losses trying to ward off potential purchasers of his media empire.
Even now he is still involved with the school and the Old Belvedere club and a new clubroom was opened in his honour in 2018. In his inauguration speech he offered the opinion that “you can never be a winner unless you have learnt to lose first, and I did plenty of learning at Belvedere”.