Athy’s Anderson gets Hall of Fame honour
ROGER ANDERSON of Athy RFC was named the winner of the Sean O’Brien Hall of Fame award for 2019 at a lunch in the Ballsbridge Hotel last week.
The lunch was a warm-up event for the Leinster v Ulster PRO14 clash in the RDS.
MC for the day was Philip Lawlor and this year the guest speaker was Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
Philip is the domestic rugby manager in Leinster with responsibility for rugby development in the province.
He played as No 8 for Leinster from 1988-1994 and was part of the Irish squad from 1990-1994 and was capped on three occasions by Ireland.
It was fitting to have Schmidt as
guest speaker at this celebration of junior rugby in Leinster.
Joe’s first foray into Irish rugby was as player-coach for Mullingar RFC in the early 1990s.
Lorcan Balfe, president of Leinster Rugby, presented Schmidt with a commemorative bronze sculpture, on behalf of all the clubs of Leinster, in acknowledgement of all he has done for Irish rugby.
The organisers were also delighted to have Leinster and Ireland player Seán O’Brien at the lunch, as well as Peter Dooley and Josh van der Flier.
Nine trophies were showcased on the day, – the European Cup and the Guinness PRO14, the All-Ireland Junior Interprovincial Cup, the Provincial Towns Cup and Plate, the Metropolitan Cup and Plate, Leinster League D1 Cup and the Metro League D1 Cup.
Nine trophies, representing Leinster’s top junior rugby competitions and Leinster’s ‘From The Ground Up’ policy.