The pads featured in the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia and were part of the kit provided by Rhino, which is run by former West centre Reg Clark.
Reg played a major part in our move up the leagues, and he was quick to answer a call from John Mullen [pictured above] who coached Reg while he was at the grammar school.
As part of the club's development plans John wondered if Reg had any bits of kit to go along with our Rhino scrummaging machine. He was both astonished and delighted to be offered the set of post pads which had been on the Lions tour and back.
Reg says: " They are one of only 5 sets made. As part of HSBC’s joint legacy programme with Rhino, one set stayed in Hong Kong, and another in Sydney. In both cases the post pads were part of a wider package of equipment donated to schools -including the one presented by Brian O’Driscoll to St Gregory’s school in Sydney.
"The posts therefore have definite rarity and memorabilia value."
John Mullen has stayed in touch with Reg over the years and says: "He was a superb centre who went on to play for Oxford while brother John, of course, was a talented full back who went on to coach the West first team.
"As you would expect the pads are of the highest quality, and they even had a bit of reddish Australian mud on them when they arrived so they have definitely seen some action."