The London Irish ‘Leprechaun Trophy Lunch’ was inaugurated in 1977, built around a 6 Nations forecast competition for rugby writers. For the past 20 yrs the lunch has been held at the magnificent venue of Trinity House, Tower Hill, EC3. Regrettably the maximum capacity for dinner is 130, making demand difficult to manage.

The trophy was created by the NZ sculptor, Bonar Dunlop, imitating a leprechaun stylishly kicking a rugby ball. Many famous rugby writers have attended the lunch and taken home the trophy for a year.

While the event is now run by the amateur side of London Irish, it is very much a joint venture and another great opportunity for both sides of the club to enjoy each others company. We have been lucky to have recent after lunch speakers such as Les Kiss, Rob Saunders, Declan Kidney & Neil Hatley.

This years dinner was held on March 24th, with a Guinness reception beforehand & the usual adjournment to a local hostel at 4pm. Table organisers will probably be familiar to most:- Mick Crossan, Kevin Flynn, Kieran McCarthy, Kevin Clancy, Joe Byrne, Barry Hurley/Peter Whiteside, David McLoughlin, Chris Magowan, Simon Martinson, Michael Rice, Ian Mitchell, Edward Young, Jim O’Hara, Vince Gillespie/Jimmy Reilly.

Hopefully next year will again be a success, the dinner is expected to be held on Fri 5th April 2024.

Many thanks to our sponsors Anthony Gold, Powerday, Vincent & Sandie Gillespie, Neil Patton/ McCue.

We are also very grateful to Adam Hathaway - Chairman Rugby Writers Association, Fiona, Luke & John from Hazelwood, Michael Gibson for managing the auction, Linda Walsh for many tech matters & Jimmy Reilly for managing the forecast competition.

For further information please contact John Walsh