This was the day that we hosted LONDON IRISH in the 4^th round of the Pilkington Cup and, in wet and windy conditions, gave the Irish a fright in what was probably one of our best performances in what was a difficult season under coach Rob Cunningham. It was also memorable for one of the best ‘after match’ evenings that the clubhouse has seen. (The Irish went to the trouble of writing to thank us for the hospitality)

We had reached the 4^th round by having a bye in the 1^st Round, beating Lydney 16-11 away in the 2^nd Round and beating Cambridge 24-13 at home in the 3^rd Round.

Alister Marshall wrote in the News Sports Mail that night:

Havant went out of the Pilkington Cup in the 4^th round at Hooks Lane today – but take nothing away from them. It was a magnificent, highly spirited effort by skipper Will Knight’s squad, who made the aristocrats from Division 1 of the Courage League fight all the way for their place in the last 16.

The final score was Havant 13 London Irish 18.

The Havant scores came from tries by Mark Sheldon and Nick Roach and a penalty from ‘Siggy’ Lippiett.

The Havant Team was:

Dave Jones, Dave Sibson, Steve Boydell, Paul Jenkins, Tony White, Simon Lippiett, Barney Gray:

Dave Rees, Rob Whitehead, Mick Rees, Ben Rouse, Mike Baldwin, Mark Sheldon, Nick Roach, Will Knight (capt)

replacements: Jimmy Bates, Paul (Kiwi) Redden

Irish were fielding two current Ireland internationals in Jim Staples and Simon Geoghagen

April 27 1951   Founding

Sep 29 1951   1st Game

Mar 12 1973   1st Hants Cup Final

Mar 9 1975     1st Hampshire Cup win

Mar 23 1975    New Clubhouse opening

Feb 14 1976    Roundhay

Feb 10 1979    Rosslyn Park  

Dec 11 1984    Balcony Collapse   

April 25 1992   Promotion

April 24 1993   Aspatria

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