Perennials RFC Notes: The Effervescent I XV Are Sending A Training Video To Declan Kidney!! The Match Report Is A True & Accurate Description Of The Game & Bangor Did Field A Youthful Side: Report + 23 Action Shots!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a sunny spring afternoon at Uprichard Park, the Perennials suffered their first defeat of the season losing by 8 tries to 5 against a youthful Bangor side.
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There were some concerns prior to the game when it became apparent that the opposition had youth on their side and our fears were confirmed when Bangor took a 2-0 lead after only 10 minutes. However, the Perennials regrouped and after some brilliant rugby involving strong runs from Terry Moore, Don Thompson and Rab Irwin, Ricky McIlmoyle scored under the posts to reduce the deficit to 2 tries to 1 at the end of the first quarter.

The Perennials then brought the score level with a try in the corner by Kirk McEwan, following a great break by the Perennials centre partnership of Maurice Field and Stuart Porter.

The average age of the Bangor team then rose dramatically with the introduction of Ashley Armstrong playing outside his son Ricky. Ashley reveled in the No10 position and showed he still has all the silky skills, putting a delicate chip into the corner, off his good knee, for the Bangor winger to touch down and give them a 3 -2 lead.

The third quarter started with Ashley Armstrong offering his services to the Perennials. A player’s public ballot resulted in a “thanks”, but “no thanks” result. Not having lost any of his negotiating skills with the referees, a penalty initially awarded to Bangor close to our line was reversed after Ashley offered the referee the benefit of his opinion – a smile and wink suggested this was Ashley giving us a helping hand.

After some frantic end to end play  Ricky McIlmoyle raced onto his own chip forward to score a try to bring the score level again. A further Bangor try was cancelled by birthday boy John Rainey who nipped in to score after a great scrum from the forwards to leave the scores level going into the final quarter.

Gerry O’Donnell claims the Perennials pack were magnificent in the final quarter, dominating the scrums to the extent that he is sending a training video to Declan Kidney. Following another turnover, John Rainey made a great break and when the ball was subsequently moved quickly on the blindside, Emlyn Williamson did very well to strike for the line and slip a pass to allow Ricky McIlmoyle to complete his hat-trick putting the Perennials in the lead for the first time.

As thoughts turned to Ricky McIlmoyle having to buy the whole club a drink for his hat trick of tries, unfortunately the energy of youth won the day, with Bangor running in three late scores to win the match by 8 tries to 5, our only defeat of the season, but perhaps our best performance.

A big thank you to David Armstrong for performing the referring duties and to Bangor for their hospitality and raising over £300 , which they very generously presented to the Perennials for our Charity Account.

Congratulations to Michael O’Reilly on his year of captaincy and the players can now enjoy a short rest before the call to pre-season training from in-coming captain Stuart Porter.