Old Collegians Rugby Union Club
Ben Perkins
Standing left to right: Geraint Compton, Dennis Hay, Tony Nugent, Henry Rymill (obscured), Richard Waddicor, Phil Toye, Bob Inskip, Dennis Hayden, Mick Campion, Wasea Rakiwasa, Ben Perkins, Tim Campion, Nick Vrodos, "Doc" Douglas, Tony Bew (Manager), Peter Tokarski, Roger McDaniel (President)
Kneeling left to right: Gerry Fogarty, Lachlan Andrews, Ross de la Motte, Sean Beaton, John Davies (Coach), Chas Norman (Captain), Andy Secker
...Photo courtesy Joyce Spry
Also: Summation of the 1st XV of 1986 by Ben Perkins
Million Dollar Baby
Article by Wayne Smith in the Weekend Australian Magazine May 26-27 2007 about Matt Giteau
Credit here to Giteau's former Wallabies kicking coach, Ben Perkins, an eccentric by any standards but one who won the respect and close friendship of former team captain John Eales, and has done the same with the young man he forecasts is about to become the Wallabies' next long-term leader. "I told him a couple of years ago that I wanted him to start thinking about whether he wanted to be captain," Perkins recollects. "I said, 'You're the sort of player who leads by example and they make the best leaders. If you're going to fulfil your potential, the captaincy is the ultimate step.'"
In one sense Perkins has groomed the son of working class parents for the role, introducing him to everything from the poetry pf American Carl Sandburg to Rennaissance architecture - with a little help from last year's Test against Italy in Rome. But in practical terms it just happened. They hung out together on Wallaby tours and Perkins is enlightening if often enigmatic company.
Result could be ugly but Wallabies are prepared to put the boot in
Greg Growden Chief Rugby Correspondent
Saturday, June 10, 2006
rugbyheaven
While Wallabies coach John Connolly yesterday said any form of victory - from beautiful to ugly - will do against England tomorrow night, one of his back-up staff has stressed the quality of kicking will definitely be on the improve.
It was natural Connolly, in taking over a team that had lost eight of its past nine Tests, would stress that victory was paramount in the first Test of the season. What was not expected were the views of Wallabies kicking coach Ben Perkins, who raised hopes that Australia's kicking game, which has been a weakness in recent times, was at last on the up.
Perkins has been working with the Wallabies' kickers the past few weeks, and yesterday said that Stirling Mortlock was "playing like a well-composed hurricane and his goalkicking is looking the best of his career".
Even though Mat Rogers has had only a few kicks at training, "he is such an instinctive live-the-moment person, his timing has been first class". And the Wallabies reserves bench, according to Perkins, is just as good. "Cameron Shepherd is, potentially, the best goalkicker I have coached," he said. "He has a special energy that you rarely see. When I stand 10 metres in front of him and watch him, it's just symphonic to me. I expect him to live up to the name I've given him - Zorro."
Perkins, however, has warned the Wallabies of Englishman Olly Barkley's capabilities. Perkins spent several weeks with Barkley at Bath, and feels "with a bit of minor experimentation he could be the David Gower of English kicking".
From rugbyheaven.com.au
6th May 2006
Connolly covets territory and toughness
"There is no doubt new Wallabies coach John Connolly will change the team's direction in terms of personnel and playing style in 2006. Understand that the game style should dictate selection and I doubt very much that Connolly will continue with the Eddie Jones game plan. The skills required of the players will be different.
In recent seasons selection speculation never amounted to much, as the incumbent XV was pretty much guaranteed a run unless there were injuries or massive form reversals.
There will be little mileage in picking players who cannot execute a Connolly game plan, and kicking skills will be essential. Since arriving at Miller Street, Connolly has already employed full-time kicking coach Ben Perkins, who has been visiting the provinces and working with a kicking squad. This is a first for Australian rugby and might indicate directional change."
Port working hard
Sportal.com.au
Friday, 3 March 2006 5:49:35 PM AEDT
Ben Perkins is a friend of Mark Williams the coach of Port Adelade AFL club. The following is an extract from an article about Port Adelaide improving it's game after a loss to Adelaide AFL club.
'Mark Williams believes a week of reassessment and solid training has Port Adelaide ready for a strong performance against Carlton in the NAB Challenge match at Optus Oval on Saturday.
"We want to build on what we delivered last week (in the 72-point loss to Adelaide)," Williams said. "Obviously we didn't show too much. When we looked at the game we saw some really good parts and we saw some poor execution and poor understanding of what we are trying to get to.
Asked why Port's players had held hands as they ran down the field early at training on Friday, Williams said: "Ben Perkins (the Power's tackling coach and coach of South Australia's state rugby team) did the warm-up, and I am never sure what we are going to get when he is in charge. Obviously it is something the Wallabies must do."'
Larkham says Aussies on course
15 Sep 2003
www.scrum.com
Stephen Larkham reckons the critics should lay off the Australians
The five-eighth insists the Wallabies are on track to win a record third World Cup and is annoyed at how Australia have been written-off by many critics.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph he said,"We have had a couple of losses this year and they've really jumped on top of us, which is quite difficult for the team," Larkham said. ........................ Larkham, 29, has himself come in for criticism as the Australian backline struggles to hit stride.
The 59-Test veteran knows he has not been perfect and, after an improved performance in the final Tri-Nations game against New Zealand, is working hard.
He is having four sessions a week with Australian Rugby Union kicking coach Ben Perkins and also playing club rugby in Canberra.
"In the second South African [Tri-Nations] game I felt more comfortable," he said.
"I was a little bit more confident with my kicking, which led into the NZ game, where I made a couple of mistakes with my kicks in terms of where I was going to put them. But the actual technique of kicking seemed to improve throughout the series............................................"
Ben Perkins moved to Queensland and joined Brothers.
He is mentioned in Peter Fitzsimons' biography of John Eales
(John Eales, The Biography, ABC Books, August 2001, ISBN 0 73331012 5, pages 81,82, 103-104, 178-180, 226-227, photo prior to page 235).With permission from Peter Fitz ...
"In 1990, Brothers had, by most measures, the Prince of all Eccentrics in their corner. His name was Ben Perkins and he was the A Grade side's fitness conditioner. As a player he had been the Courier-Mail's Club Rugby Player of the Year in 1978, had once sat on the bench for Queensland, and his knowledge of the game was wide. When John met him, Ben was 31 years old, with wispy blond hair, a slight paunch, piercing blue eyes, and a slightly other-worldly manner.
As a matter of fact, he was from another world, he told John and anyone else who would listen. As a follower of the only one and true religion, called Eckankar, he was able to project his soul through astral travel.
..... For many of the other players, Perkins was a lovable fruit loop, a bloke who clearly had a couple of kangaroos loose in the top paddock, but John never took him like that. He liked him a lot and the two simply hit it off. A long and significant friendship in John's life h ad just begun."
John Connolly, who was a frequent visitor at his old club, was one who used to have a good-natured laugh at Perkin's expense ...... 'What does he know about Rugby?'
The answer, for John, was 'quite a bit' and the two used to discuss tactics and strategies of the game along with everything else."
In 1991 ... "A constant confidant and adviser to John ... was Ben Perkins who was a frequent visitor ... Ben and John would talk rugby. Tactics, strategies, techniques, John never ceased to be amazed at the depths of Ben's technical knowledge, and though some might have taken him as a kind of Eales-acolyte he was not that. In fact Ben was an honest critic about areas where he thought John could improve, and they would discuss them. Somehow, Ben managed to be a critic without being critical, and he managed to give John a lot of confidence......'Ben is just one of those people,' John would later say 'He makes me feel good about myself. I don't have to be anything or anyone, I can just be myself.'"
In 1994 ... ".. Ben Perkins had been appointed by John Connolly as the team's (Queensland squad) goal-kicking coach, meaning that John could spend a lot more time with his close friend. Certainly Ben's approach tp goal-kicking was not completely orthodox. He was legendary in his own kicking days for telling a ball boy who brought him the sand that the ball was too flat and he should immediately put precisely three pumps in it - but it seemed he really knew what he was doing when it came to technique."
Collegians to Bledisloe Rescue
Article by Dan (Danjo) Paterson, 22nd August 2000
Australian national pride was at stake at the Wellington rematch for the Bledisloe Cup. Experts have no doubt that OCRFC, Adelaide, provided the connections that were to make a key contribution to retaining the much coveted Bledisloe Cup in Australia.
Indeed the sports columns of the Australian had strongly suggested that John Eales' kicking could be a vital component of the overall match strategy. Sports writers went on to say that a precautionary refresher session with kicking coach and mentor, Ben Perkins, would be advisable.
That proved to be exactly the case. Eales worked with Ben; history records John Eales' ice cool, last gasp, over the black dot, winning penalty.
As renowned Life Member, former state selector, Club President, 800+ 1st grade games, Golden Oldie International, Bob Burgess was heard to remark after the game "Never in doubt, old feller, never in doubt".
Footnote. Amongst other achievements, Ben Perkins (son of Life Member Len Perkins) played - and kicked- in the successful OC's Ist XV premiership of 1982, contributed to the Tregenza Times and played for Brothers in Brisbane.
(article incorrectly attributed to Mitreball)
Also refer to the page about Len Perkins
Any other info. on Perkins junior or senior would be warmly welcomed. Ed.
