THERE is of course a reason why Doddie has seen so much of the All Blacks this year. Diagnosed with motor neurone disease just before Christmas last year, Doddie had only confided in his closest friends prior to making his condition public in June, by which time he was headed to New Zealand with wife Kathy and sons Hamish, Angus and Ben to see the British & Irish Lions in action.

It was during that tour that Weir’s former Scotland team-mate and big pal, Kenny Logan, first had the idea of having a benefit dinner for his stricken colleague.

On Monday, 1300 people packed the Battersea Evolution for a testimonial banquet and fund-raiser on behalf of Doddie, something that he has spent the past week coming to terms with.

“It was unbelievable,” said Weir, with a puff of the cheeks and a shake of the head.

“I was gobsmacked. I still am, nearly a week on. I’m still thinking about it. The generosity of everyone, all the players who turned up – brilliant to have so many of the ’97 Lions there, the double-winning Newcastle Falcons, Scotland’s 1999 Five Nations winners, Melrose boys I won the league title with – so many I played beside and against.

“When you see all of those players, and the coaches, and all the friends I have through the game, rugby has been great for me and I’m just a very lucky person.

“I know I have this condition, but I am luckier than those who don’t have anything like the support I’ve had. That’s why Doddie Weir’5 Foundation is important to me.

“But Quite special, it was very humbling – and then on Wednesday, I was back to my sewage treatment business –  where your number 2’s are my number one.” Don’t laugh out loud, you will only encourage him.

While the seriousness of MND, and of Doddie’s future, wasn’t lost on any of his family and friends in London, neither was the occasion, an evening of fun and laughter.

Doddie’s impromptu after-dinner speech was hilarious, including surrounding ex-Scotland hooker Kevin McKenzie – probably the smallest guy in the room – with giants like Martin Johnson, Jeremy ‘Buzz’ Davidson and Alastair Kellock. McKenzie took it all in jest, but at least he kept his head above the parapets.

“I knew what was coming – I hid,” admitted the diminutive Bryan Redpath.

The only man to raise a bigger laugh than Dod was Kevin Bridges, tear-jerkingly funny on the night, and, no-one noticed he wasn’t ‘a rugger fan.’

But he was there to support Doddie, like host Gabby Logan, like co-host Rory Bremner, who gained more applause for his take off of Gavin Hastings than Donald Trump. And all did it for their love and admiration of the big man. As did the players.

There was supposed to be 150 in attendance. I only greeted or spoke to Keith Wood, Mike Tindall, Rob Andrew, John Jeffrey, Finlay Calder, Scott Hastings, Gary Armstrong, Matt Dawson, Kieran Bracken, Gregor Townsend, Nick Popplewell, Paul Wallace, Martin Johnson, Stuart Grimes, Gareth Archer, Alastair Kellock and Kenny Logan.

And then there was Jonny Wilkinson, Will Greenwood, Peter Scrivener, Damian Cronin, Nigel Redman, Jim Hamilton, Phil Vickery, Jason Leonard, Brian Moore, Max Evans, Eric Peters, Rob Wainwright, Jonathan Webb, Anton Oliver, Justin Marshall, Scott Quinnell, Craig Chalmers, Dean Ryan, Ieuan Evans, Jeremy Davidson, Kevin McKenzie, Gordon Bulloch and Richard Hill.

Oh, and how could I forget Michael Dods, Carl Hogg, Peter Walton, Adam Jones, Graham Rowntree, Robert Jones, Derek White, Chris Paterson, Budge Poutney, Jamie Noon, Lawrence Dallaglio, Sean Fitzpatrick, Rory Lawson, Simon Shaw, Derek Stark, Andy Nicol, Neil Back, Greig Laidlaw and Damian Hopley.

If I missed anyone, you must have been in the bar.

Some couldn't make it; Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Chris Hoy, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and All McCoist all left video messages, as did Kenny Dalglish. None came close however to matching Alex McLeish, his delivery style more Ronald Villiers than Robert De Niro.

It was a momentous evening, one that blew everyone away, even the brains and driving force behind it, Kenny Logan.

“Seven weeks it took to pull it together,” said Logan. “Seven weeks of hard graft, dedication, favours, connections, people giving their time for free. It is simply amazing, amazing.

“But this is what can happen when rugby pulls together and we need to help one of our own. And no-one was ever going to say no to helping Doddie and his family.”