By BODisGOD
May 19 2014
The legends game ended, the sun slowly set and the slowest pitch invasion in rugby ever occurred! Saturday really was, yet another, great day in the sun at Sunbury.
I must admit that I did miss the Wild Geese Veterans game due to being stuck in the well planned by the council road works along the road leading from Hampton to Sunbury so congratulations to them. Lets not let that dampen a day that was filled with brilliant sunlight. So I must apologise, I don't know the score, I don't know anything about it. I do however know a lot more about the great craic during both the Wild Geese vs Surrey XV A and London Irish Legends vs Topsy/Danaher Invitation XV!
The walk in the shade down to Sunbury brought back memories of marching down there to make sure that I saw the players warming up before seeing (hopefully) Irish win. And that feeling came back again. I was at Sunbury when the Wild Geese took on Hartpury College and lost narrowly in the final competitive game, however the way the Geese and Surrey went about yesterday looked very competitive. The Wild Geese played the way the professional team do when the sun shines and the ground gets hard; they scored tries. However Surrey weren't keen on having a score-line that looked like they were being destroyed. The amount of line breaks and the space both sides found in the middle of the field was unbelievable! One player breaks the line all they had to do was pass to their nearest team-mate and another try was scored! For the London Irish faithful that turned up they were rewarded with a thrilling game in which Surrey always looked like they could spark a revival however Surrey somewhat lacked a spark to showcase a revival.
Next came the eagerly awaited game; The Legends vs Topsy Ojo/ Declan Danaher Invitation XV, the game was full of legends all having a go with one another. Paul Hodgson wasn't afraid to get up and close with a few of his old mates! A surprise addition to the Topsy Ojo and Dec Danaher testimonial game was Babs Ojo, Topsy's brother. Babs also showed Topsy how to score tries, he grabbed a hat-trick but when going for his fourth he dropped it, when crossing the line he also managed to injure his ankle then a quick break away by the Legends led to a try. Shows how un-predictable rugby is! During one of the many breaks, Topsy and Dec switched from their own Invitation XV to the legends! Even then Topsy still couldn't outscore his brother! It was a great game that got the entire of Sunbury cheering.
Ciamh also announced that Mr Kennedy, after hanging up his Quins jersey in his final game, returned to the Avenue to say his own special goodbyes. Another legend of Irish who moved to our sister club in the south of France also travelled up to say his goodbyes to the place; yes Delon Armitage had returned to his spiritual home!
Then, once the Legends vs Topsy Ojo/ Declan Danaher Invitation XV match had ended a nice a slow pitch invasion (although allowed!) occurred, supporters waded on and photo bombed the celebration photo. To finally cap a brilliant day, one which Irish supporters will remember, the Bible Code Sundays stepped out onto the gym balcony. Then, the players started to leave in their cliches, all to get ready for their big evening at the Hilton Hotel Terminal 5. Blair Cowan picked up the player of the season award, Halani Aulika picked up Community Player of the Year, Harlequins Head Coach; Conor O'Shea picked up the London Irish Hall of Fame award. And to cap the day off Mr Andrew Fenby was awarded the try of the season, the 2nd he got against Sale Sharks last weekend.
It was a great day to say goodbye to a great place. The first match played at Sunbury was London Irish against London Welsh that finished as an 8-8 draw and what a difference 80 plus years make! The final two games at Sunbury had a few more tries than the first ever had! Its the end of an era and I for one am looking forward to seeing the finished Hazlewood training centre of excellence.
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