England Legends v Ireland Legends - Stuart Mangan Memorial match

Hi All

Just a quick reminder that this annual match for the Stuart Mangan Trophy will be played next Friday (Mar 16th) at the Twickenham Stoop

The Legends game was conceived to raise money for Stuart Mangan. Stuart, from Cork, was paralysed from the high neck down (C1 complete) following a rugby accident whilst playing for Hammersmith & Fulham RFC in April 2008. Stuart required 24-hour medical care for his every basic need and so The Stuart Mangan Appeal was launched to fundraise. Patrons of The Stuart Mangan Appeal included Keith Wood, Ronan O'Gara and Jason Leonard.

Stuart sadly passed away in August 2009 having contracted pneumonia, but his family has decided to continue supporting the Legends game in order to raise necessary funds to support other injured players via the IRFU Charitable Trust, the RFU Injured Players Foundation, the RPA Benevolent Fund.

Tickets £10 and £5
full info and players who (might) be turning out on here

www.englandirelandlegends.co.uk

Superb cause this.

who won?

flynnnio wrote:who won?

last year - Ireland Legends if I remember correctly.

This year? Read the OP - it WILL be played on March 16th - NEXT Friday.

oooops

Who won?

I have searched far and wide for the result of this, and sorry it has not been reported anywhere but ...
Liam Toland, journalist with the Irish Times played and gave this semi-report from which it appears that England won but I haven't a clue what the score was.

Conscious of the axiom “Don’t talk about the bulls until you’re in the bull ring” I had two magnificent experiences last weekend where on Friday night I found myself “rolling on” for Mick Galwey at the Stoop after 22 minutes in the England v Ireland Legends game.

The wing forwards, Kieran Dawson and David Corkery, were far too talented for me to break into, politics once again at play! So into the frontrow I went and found ample support through Shane Byrne (just back from a 1,110 mile cycle for Sports Relief) and Gary Halpin, the man who scored that famous try against the All Blacks in RWC 1995. I had more than enough power behind me with Malcolm O’Kelly in the engine room.

It didn’t take too long for me to enter my first scrum where Jason Leonard arrived into view. In an international career that began with him being the youngest prop to play for England (1988), he became the first, and so far only, Englishman to play in 100 tests. He finished his playing career with 114 caps and went on three Lions tours .

It was humbling to lock horns with him in the Stoop.

Leonard had major neck surgery on a prolapsed disc in the middle of his career, as did I in 1998, when I had surgery on my prolapsed disc at C5/C6 and I can only imagine the millimetres that saved him and me and allowed me to experience an amazing journey in rugby last Friday night.

It didn’t stop there as afterwards the old school camaraderie kicked in with a buffet dinner and porter.

Martin Corry and Byrne, who straddled both eras, spoke about the value of team ethics and team spirit and the unbelievable good fortune we all had to be still playing when others suffered lesser fates.

Corry, in explaining his motivation for togging out in front of 6,000, didn’t have to refer to Stuart Mangan, whose name adorns the annual trophy up for grabs, nor the IPF, the RPA Benevolent Fund and the IRFU Charitable Trust, as only a few short weeks ago Alex Bennett, a team-mate of Corry’s in the previous two Legends games, fractured his C3 vertebrae in his upper spine playing a club match for Lymm RFC.

Bennett and his family have received immediate support from rugby to aid them through the unspeakable recovery process.

Former SCT Blackrock School backrower David Hackett working in “the City” received a late call up through big Bob Casey. A little nervous, he togged out with Galwey on his left and O’Kelly on his right, a total of 133 international caps between them (Galway 41, O’Kelly 92 and Hackett 0). Understandably Hackett felt a little humbled and was far too slow taking the field when our manager Len Dineen motioned him on.

Coincidentally, Seán Cronin had the same amount of pitch time as Hackett. I enquired from him afterwards how he found it; he replied “the pace was very fast”. What must it have been like the following day in Twickenham? He was so delighted that I must suggest to the organisers there may be more Hacketts out there willing, for charity, to tog out with the Legends.
...
PS. The many scrums I partook in last Friday were, to my disgust, uncontested; we still lost!

last year - Ireland Legends if I remember correctly.

I thought England legends had a bit of a strangle hold on this cup? I seem to remember a previous write up where the ref took an Irish conversion because the kicker was taking to long (he scored it).