If anyone were to ask what the most memorable season was for London Irish Rugby in modern times, may I suggest that we go back less than 45 years to 1976/77. That was the year that we finished up as the No. 2 club in England and culminated with a tour to South Africa.

The facts of the matter were that we were truly an amateur side, being comprised of doctors, dentists, teachers, etc. The title London Irish Amateur RFC would have stood us in good stead then! There were no RFU merit tables then but the Sunday Telegraph Merit Tables were the forerunners of today’s leagues. We finished up as runners-up to Moseley, having tracked them down to the last month of the season, when we won every one of the 4 matches we played only to find out, later on Saturday night, that they had done the same!

This was a team that included current and future British & Irish Lions, Irish internationals and final trialists, and other distinguished players. When one looks at the front row fielded then, this all becomes clear. Team captain and British & Irish Lion, Dr. Ken Kennedy, was the hooker and the most elegant striker of a rugby ball there probably has ever been. This was long before the present-day mechanism of scrum-halves putting the ball into the second row came into being and Ken struck for opposition balls as well as his own. At loose-head prop was Les White, who played in the legendary game when Munster defeated the All Blacks at Thomond Park in October 1978. At tight-head prop was Alex Newberry, later to become President of the Amateur Club.

It would be impossible to go without mentioning legendary second row Dr. Mick Molloy (27 caps for Ireland) and future British & Irish Lions flanker Dr. John O’Driscoll. To the pantheon of outstanding players then should be added provincial No. 8 Dan Donohue, former Cambridge University Captain of Rugby, flanker Walter Jones, Irish internationals Pat Parfrey (centre) and Pat Lavery (centre) and Irish trialists Hugh Condon (fly-half), David Donovan (wing) and Duncan Leopold (full-back). To round the players’ list off with a difference, on the wing was Maurice Collins, who played for Otago against the British & Irish Lions while resident in New Zealand.

After the season had ended, we entered the summer hemisphere season with our 6 match tour of South Africa. This was a history making tour as we played both the Proteas and the Leopards but the undoubted highlight was the last game versus N Transvaal at the famous Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. We lost but it ended a momentous year on a high note. Suffice to say that the after-match dinner was rounded off by 6 speeches – five in Afrikaans and one in English by Ken Kennedy!

If you would like to learn more, please see Our Proud History.

https://www.liarfc.co.uk/a/our-proud-history-53423.html

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