SPONSORS

<< Perennials v Monaghan – 12 February 2012

With the France v Ireland game cancelled, all attention focused on the big game at Monaghan where the Perennials were the visitors.

The main party travelled by luxury coach from Belfast hoping to extend their unbeaten run and claim their first ever season Grand Slam.

Team focus and preparations were diverted by the in coach bar facilities. With young bar tenders Goldsbrough and Trimble pouring cocktails, it was left to our apprentice trolley dolly Philip Parker to serve the passengers.

Whilst the players warmed up before the match, the management and supporters were treated to a wine and cheese reception, courtesy of Paul Bowe, a fitting start to the afternoon.

Under perfect weather conditions, the first quarter ended up with the Perennials a score up, courtesy of George Neilly, who had travelled home from London for the weekend. Monaghan drew level during a closely fought second quarter.

Big games need big decisions, so chairman of selectors, Colin McKee, rested our captain for the third session. The Perennials started to play some champagne rugby, culminating in a fine try in the corner by Kevin Simpson after the ball had moved through the hands over several phases of play. Some claim it is the try of the season so far.

The champagne however must have gone to the head of Chris Weiniger, who tried a ridiculous reverse pass on our 22 metre line, straight into the arms of a very grateful Monaghan player to bring the match level again at 2-2. A no nonsense approach from the selectors saw Chris Weiniger sit-out the final quarter.

The Perennials pushed forward again and following a scrum in front of the Monaghan posts. John ‘Rainbow’ Rainey picked up, threw a quick dummy pass and touched down under the posts to give the Perennials a 3 -2 lead going into the final quarter.

Monaghan pressed for the equalizer and only important cover tackles from Stuart Porter and
Niall Little kept the Perennials ahead, however the pressure eventually told and Monaghan scored from a short penalty.

With the match evenly balanced at 3-3, play became a bit heated and the referee had no choice but to issue two yellow cards, one to each side, with only minutes left on the clock. Martin Malseed may wish to reflect on his actions in advance of his disciplinary hearing.

The final result ended 3 tries a piece.

The usual first class Monaghan hospitality followed the match and our thanks go to Brendan Mallon (Paddy’s younger brother) for a marvelous steak dinner, accompanied by red/white wine.

With ties swapped, a few short speeches, a couple of songs and a few more pints it was then back on the bus for the journey home. Bar staff and trolley dollies ensured the party atmosphere continued, but the bar was eventually closed when xxxxxxxxxx threw-up over the President. Big and expensive disciplinary hearing to follow.

<< Perennials v CI -08 January 2012

Our opening match of 2012 against CI saw the Perennials just edge a very entertaining and competitive match by 5 tries to 4, to maintain their 100% undefeated record for the season. A good turn out of players and supporters added to the post Christmas festivities with the game only being decided in the final quarter.

A tightly fought first quarter ended at a try a piece, with Ricky McIlmoyle rolling back the years to produce a great solo effort with at least four side steps thrown into the run for the line, reminiscent of Phil Bennett in his hay day. (If our touch line match reporter has exaggerated this please advise.)

The close encounter continued in the second quarter, again producing a try a piece, with Michael McAllister touching down for the Perennials. The Perennials edged ahead in the third quarter with Michael McAllister scoring two more tries to complete a memorable hat-trick in his first season and give the Perennials a 4 tries to 2 lead, going into the final session.

The final quarter saw CI pull back to level the scores and with the Christmas festivities taking their toll on our Captain, our side line tactician Colin McKee made the brave call to substitute our Captain. This spurred the team to turn on the style and former Ulster and Ireland centre Maurice Field scored what proved to be the decisive try for the Perennials, minutes from the end.
 
A big thank you to match referee Neil Spottiswoode and to CI for their hospitality and their donation of the proceeds of the post match raffle towards our nominated charities.

In the post match press interview, Ricky McIlmoyle credited his unique side stepping and dummy techniques to his figure hugging underwear that molds his body into the correct condition and gives him the aerodynamics to give him the ideal balance. He emphasized the importance of dress sense and ensuring you were properly groomed before taking the pitch. As the changing room quickly emptied click here to judge for yourself.

>> Perennials v Carrick 04 December 2011

At a bitterly cold Woodlawn, the Perennials maintained their unbeaten record with a hard fought draw at 6 tries a piece.

A good turnout of players for our Christmas fixture contributed to a highly entertaining match that produced some great flowing and skillful rugby from both sides.

Late cry offs from our captain Michael O’Reilly and vice captain Stewart (I’ve pulled a hamstring) Porter did not deter the Perennials, who started strongly and built up a healthy 4 tries to 1 lead after the first session, with tries from Neil McConkey, new recruit Don Thompson, Ulster, Ireland and TV pundit Maurice Field and Peter Sandford.

The Perennials extended their lead in the second session to 6 tries to 2, with Simon Willis and John Rainey crossing the line and looked to be heading for a comfortable victory.

The lack of hot ports before the start of the final session obviously took its toll, as Carrick staged a great comeback adding 4 tries to tie the match.

The game would have been beyond Carrick’s reach had Peter Sandford's pass with a three man overlap not been judged forward by referee David Armstrong. who was some 50 meters from the play ,when he blew for the forward pass. Unrelated to this incident, Davy announced his retirement from refereeing after the game, as he felt Specsavers, who sponsor the referees, were coming up short in developing extra long sighted lenses to help the mature referee see better from longer distances.

A big thank you to Craig Addley from Carrick for arranging the fixture and the excellent hospitality after.

>> Perennials v City of Derry 06 November 2011

City of Derry brought suburb autumn sunshine to Belfast to play the Perennials, a match played in memory of City of Derry player Marty McIvor.

An excellent turn out of members, including several new faces, turned on the style at Belfast Harlequins grounds, to maintain their unbeaten run with an 11 try to 7 try victory.

The Perennials looked to be edging clear early on as they built up a 4 try to 1 lead but Derry pulled this back to 4 tries a piece before the Perennials pulled away again, only for Derry to mount a final flourish.

Our match scorer could not remember all the try scorers, but his memory did extend to Terry McCracken, Roger McAuley and Davy Wilson crossing the line, with the highlight of the day being new boy Neil Murphy crossing four 4 tries, which is probably an all time record for the club.

A big thank you to referees Simon McDowell and Rab Weir and to Bernie McGrath for providing the hospitality.

City of Derry presented a memorial plaque to the club in memory of Marty and it was great to have Marty’s wife and daughter at the game also.

Some musical entertainment and a few more pints brought the curtain down on a first class day.

With Christmas looming Geoff Pitt has requested a compass, and a note book for his stocking. Whilst we were all changing at Belfast Harlequins we had a phone call from Geoff who was at Carrick wondering where we all were.

>> Perennials v BHSFP 09 October 2011

The Perennials maintained there unbeaten record with a hard fought and physical tussle at Upper Greenisland against BHSFP. It was a highly entertaining match that produced some great flowing and skillful rugby from both sides, with the Perennials edging it by 6 tries to 4.

With the High School FP’s scoring first things looked ominous, but a master stroke from the coach in replacing stand in out half Stewart Porter with Davy Wilson, say the Perennials take the lead in the second quarter and hold onto it until the final whistle.

Davy Wilson led the way on the score sheet by notching up a hat trick of tries and score of the match was by Chris Weinger, who sold an embarrassing dummy to run in from some 50 yards, as he was overheard to tell the girls in the bar. There is debate over who scored the other two tries so we will leave that as the mystery.

With some new faces on show Douglas Ferguson, Mike Watson, Michael Simms, Neil Murphy and Kirk Macewan this fresh blood should add to our playing strength.

A big thank you to Tim Lowry our referee and to High School’s Ken Hutchinson for arranging the fixture and to his team of helpers for providing their usual first class hospitality. Click here for photos

<< London Irish v Perennials September 2011 - Tour report

Our postponed “Ash Cloud” tour took place over the weekend of 15-18 September 2011 and saw some 50 plus Perennials gather at our tour base, the Holiday Inn Brentford Lock near Heathrow.

The advance party of golfers enjoyed two superb days of sunshine hitting their little white balls. With a 21 shot handicap, Emlyn Williamson took first prize on the Thursday session. As shouts of bandit rang out from the golfing party, an emergency meeting of the sore losers decided to cut his handicap to 17 shots for the Friday session. The committee were proved right as Emlyn proceeded to win this session also.

Saturday morning saw 50 Irish supporters and 2 Australians take over the hotel bar to watch the Ireland v Australia game. An unbelievable game with the drink flowing and the hearts pounding. It motivated us for the main match of the day later that afternoon - the Perennials v London Irish at Sunbury.

Unfortunately one of the young Australian supporters in the bar Nathan Reidy, struggled to accept the defeat and as tears flowed into his pint of Guinness, he was observed walking slowly to the edge of the bridge outside the hotel with his national flag draped around his shoulders. Fearing he was about to jump we sent in the rescue team of Michael O’Reilly and Geoff Pitt. With Geoff challenging him to jump to see if he could swim, Club Captain Michael O’Reilly took a different approach and talked and talked and talked and talked him down. The deal breaker was that Michael was prepared to sacrifice his place in the team to give the young man the opportunity of a lifetime, to borrow the skipper’s kit and turn out as a guest for the Perennials against London Irish.

Willie Oakes also put a personal ad in the local free paper looking for a scrum half, because he had heard rumours he would have to do an 80 minute spell on the pitch. His free ad brought Bangor man Harry Miller to the rescue and he also joined us on the bus to Sunbury.

Both our guests looked slightly younger than their years, but what they lacked in the ways of the world they made up for in pace on the pitch.

A motivational team talk by our non-playing skipper saw us take to the pitch determined to follow in the foot steps of the early morning win by the Irish team.

London Irish scored the opening try but as the drink wore off the Perennials confidence grew. However the Perennials could never get their nose in front and despite tries from new boy Michael McAllister and our guest scrum half Harry Miller they were trailing by 4 tries to 2 going into the final quarter.

The key feature of the game was the competitiveness in the Perennials midfield were Peter Sanford, Ricky McIlmoyle and Stuart Porter were vying for the title of “Intercept Passer of the Year”. With 7 intercepts during the game, 3 of which resulted in tries, Ricky McIlmoyle won the race by a country mile.

As the heavens opened the rain woke up the tourists even more and tries in the final quarter from Emlyn Williamson and another superb solo run from Harry Miller, saw the game finish at 4 tries a piece.

Denis Fusco was declared man of the match after lifting his opposition prop up in the air at one momentous scrum, Club President Philip Parker and Club Captain Michael O’Reilly thanked our hosts and we all then departed back to base for tea and an early evening.

Thanks to our two guests for turning out, to Tim Lowry for refereeing, to Geoff and his helpers for all the organising and to London Irish for their hospitality.

>> Perennials v Bangor 27 March 2011

On a sunny spring afternoon at Uprichard Park, a feast of tries was served up to a large crowd, as the Perennials finished the season on a high, with a 14 tries to 9 victory, against the Bangor Gryphons.

The match was part of Bangor’s 125th celebratory season which saw some suburb rugby played in the true spirit of what the game is all about. In what must be a first for many a long time, the Perennials played a full 80 minutes of rugby, the match started with the kick off by the British and Irish Lion Dick Milliken. In a highly entertaining match, some 23 tries in total were scored, with the Perennials just opening up a gap in the score board in the final quarter.

A great turn out of players from both sides enabled the President Roger Cupitt to rotate the squad to keep everyone fresh, a tactic which he felt was the master plan behind the win.

Tries from Emlyn Williamson, Peter Sanford, David Elliot, Davy Barbour, John Rainey, Stuart Porter, a couple from Wayne Storey and four from our sprinter Roger McAuley kept the scoreboard ticking over. As the President’s pen ran out of ink, apologies if we have missed giving credit to any other try scorers.

In the clubhouse afterwards it was left to our President Roger Cupitt to thank the Bangor President  Harry Williams for the great game of rugby and hospitality and for our vice captain  Michael O’Reilly to say a few words on behalf of the players.

Some entertainment afterwards and a lot of drink later concluded an excellent day’s outing to end the season.

>> Perennials v Cooke/Instonians 06 March 2011

A very disappointing turn out at this annual fixture saw us slump to our heaviest defeat in a long time by approximately 9 tries to 3. Derek McKay and Peter Sanford were on the score sheeet for the Perennials but our hosts had to much pace and power for us on this occasion.

A bit thank you to Michael O'Reilly for organising the fixture and meal after the game and to Tim Lowry for stepping in at the last minute to referee.

We have a final chance to redeem ourselves against Bangor on 27 March 2011 to give our captain Willie Oakes a fitting end to the seson.

>> Perennials v Banbridge 20 January 2011

On a Spring type afternoon at Belfast Harlequins, a very disappointing turn out of only 19 players from the Perennials excelled in coming out on top by 5 tryies to 4, against a very strong Banbridge fifteen.

With a starting back row with a combined age of 150 years plus and the IRFU’s new fund raiser Gerry O’Donnell packing down at wing forward, the Perennials threw its youth policy out the window. After a slow start in the first quarter they managed to recover, to use their considerable experience to turn the scoreboard around.

Tries from the youth members in our team of George Neely,  Kevin Simpson (a brace I have been told), Peter Sanford and Ritchie Weir helped the Perennials to their second win of the year (and season).

The consensus after the game from the referees was that the Perennials had found a great raw talent in their new wing George Neely. They felt wing was his best position, as it was a position normally far removed from the action, that let the referees run the game without vocal interference.

In a post match interview the Perennial’s captain Willie Oakes emphasized that his team was undefeated in 2011 and things were looking up to finish the year still undefeated. When asked about results from the start of the season to the end of 2010 he declined to comment.

A big thank you to referees Tim Lowry and Graeme Gibson and a special thanks to Bernie McGrath for again laying on a first class spread after the match.

 >> Perennials v CI - 02 January 2011

Our opening match of 2011, say a return to action of our skipper Willie Oakes, for our annual match against CI. Our special thanks go to Denis Fusco for arranging a late venue switch from Belmont to Civil Service, to guarantee an ample supply of water.

Despite a crisp dry day and an excellent playing surface, the festive activities took their toll, as an overweight Perennials squad struggled against a more youthful CI contingent. However allowing for age factoring calculations in the final score board, I am unreliably informed that an honorable draw was the final calculated score.

With an age range of 35 to 75 year olds, the game produced some excellent running rugby and an abundance of tries. A solid first quarter with excellent tries from Joe Clifford and Peter Sanford, was followed by a disappointing second quarter, before a brace of tries from Mervyn Brown, a further try from Peter Sanford and a 50 metre dash from George Neely brought us back into contention.

The age factor calculator put the teams all square and had Peter Sanford not over indulged over the festive period, his 50 metre clear sprint to the line unopposed could have secured the Perennials first win of 2011. His inability to bend down far enough due to an expanding waist line and touch the ball down over the line, rather than drop it over the line from a height of one metre, could be a defining moment in the statistics at the end of the season.

A big thank you to referees Tim Lowry and David Armstrong and to CI coach Mo Dowle and CI Team Manager Tom Andrews for the post match hospitality.

Some serious fitness work is required before our next fixture at the end of the month against Banbridge.

>> Perennials v London Irish - 27 November 2010

The first leg of the season’s double header against London Irish saw the tourists travel to Shaws Bride on a sunny ,but very cold Saturday, were the large crowd were entertained to a true spectacle of vintage rugby. Both teams played end to end, open, free flowing rugby, displaying passing and off loading skills that many senior clubs would die for. At the end of one of the best games of rugby for a long time, the Perennials ran out winners by 8 tries to 7 to secure their first win of the season.

The key to our success was the strategy to build the fixture around our captain Willie Oakes golfing holiday to America. With no wins to date, he needed the break as the pressure grew and with vice captain Michael O’Reilly choosing to play with the Cooke youngsters, as he felt the pressure to much also, it was left to stand in captain Mark Goldsbrough to lead the troops to victory.

After a shaky start a brace of tries from Ricky McIlmoyle, and solo efforts from Sheldon Coulter, Merv the “swerve” Brown, debutants Davy Barbour and Chris Weiniger and Mickey Doyle one of our Limerick Leprechauns guests, put us on the road to victory. The final try was claimed by Kevin Simpson, on the basis we were one try short in our count, we could not remember who scored it and Kevin was the player who bought the editor a drink in the bar after the match.

After the match some 100 people gathered for a sit down meal and post match entertainment , that saw the exchange of some Christmas presents between the London Irish Captain, Andy Hallam and our President Roger Cupitt. The man of the match award went to Gerry O’Donnell, however the jury is still out on this one and trying to find some video footage.

A big thank you to Colin McKee for team management duties on the day and Geoff Goldsbrough for the post match organization.

The return leg is in April 2011. Our strategy will be to stay sober on the Thursday and Friday, go to bed early on the Friday night, alone, and wake up motivated and ready for the re-match. On the other hand the best games are sometimes just turn up, kit out and get stuck in. Plan B looks the safer option.

>> Perennials v Carrick - 31 October 2010

Our Halloween celebrations say a large turnout of Perennials enjoy an entertaining and hard fought match against a Carrick XV, that say Carrick edge a tight victory by five tries to four at a sunny Woodlawn.

The best turnout of the year saw some excellent tries from season debutants Sheldon Coulter, Rodger McAuley and Ian Killen with Kevin Simpson adding another one to extend his tally for the season.

George Neely also added to his tally for the season but this against us as he guested for Carrick in the final quarter.

A big thank you to Craig Addely who organized the game and to all the Carrick guys for the warm welcome and their hospitality on the day.

  >> Perennials v City of Derry/Londonderry YM - 03 October 2010

Our annual fixture in support of Marty McIvor and Jim Huey drew a large turnout at a sunny Branch Road, were a very competitive match saw the combined Derry team win by a narrow margin of 6 tries to 5.

The opening session saw Derry establish a 3 tries to nil lead with some excellent running rugby being played by both teams.

The second quarter saw the Perennials recover from the effects of the aperitifs consumed on the bus journey from Belfast, by getting on the score sheet with three excellent tries, with Merv “the swerve” Brown running in a great solo effort from 50 meters, Peter Sandford similarly dancing his way over the line in another great solo effort and finally George Neilly showing all the grace and culture of a centre turned No 8 and barging over from 30 meters.

Further tries in the final session from Peter Sandford and Stuart Porter were not enough to get our noses in front, as the final whistle blew for a 6 tries to 5 victory for Derry.

A big thank you to Derry’s Emmett Deans for arranging the fixture and to his support team for providing a first class meal and hospitality. Special thanks to referee Colin McCandless who played the advantage rule to the full, ensuring that play flowed from end to end, although some of the older guys would have welcomed a few more stoppages to recharge their lungs.

It was left to Ian Crowe from City of Derry to thank everyone involved in supporting a special day for the families of Marty and Jim and to our President Roger Cupitt to respond and handover a cheque to go towards the funds raised on the day for the Coronary Care Unit at Altnalgelvin Hospital.

>> Perennials v BHSFP - 12 September 2010

The opening match of the season at sunny Upper Greenisland saw the Perennials loose a great tussle with Belfast High School FP, who finished deserved winners by 9 tries to 7.
 
With the High School FP’s running in three tries in the first 10 minutes things looked ominous for this years captain Willie Oakes and his band of merry men, however the second quarter saw the Perennials regroup and start the recovery.

New prospect Derek McKay opened our account followed by further tries by Davy Wilson and a great try from Terry McCracken who collected a clearance kick and ran through a number of defenders from some say 20 metres but Terry says 50 metres, to keep us in the hunt.

Belfast High School however kept there noses in front and further tries from Barry Vize, George Neely and two tries from Derek McKay completing his debut hat trick, were not enough to stop the High School running out worthy winners.

A big thank you to High School’s Ken Hutchinson for arranging the fixture and to his team of helpers for providing a first class meal and post match entertainment with the Jim “Clapton” Keith trio bringing back memories with renditions of Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, Sam and Dave and Beatles numbers.