Amongst the reeds, knolls and depressions of the Rosecroft Raceway, our women fought this past weekend to bring home the upper social championship, at the 26th Annual Ruggerfest Tourney in DC. It was a weekend for NY women’s developmental players to be on center stage. They showed their mettle, scoring 178 points and allowing only 10 to come away victorious...

Though we'd hoped to get our Development side into the Competitive Division, the Ruggerfest Tournament organizers asked us to switch to Social I to even out their bracket numbers. With nearly all senior side players supporting on the sidelines, the NY Dev side beat MARFU U-23 Development and NOVA II in pool play, followed by Philadelphia Development in the semis and Norfolk Storm in the final.

Saturday set the stage for a late start to the day as NY’s first game kicked off at 2pm. The players had had plenty of time for rest and relaxation to counter the brouhaha over the previous night’s prepaid room’s scandal, and they set about to the Raceway.

They were greeted by a much familiar face, as Jan, Eva’s mom, showed she really is the best surrogate mother to us all. She came with cookies, tuna salad, fruit and support to boot. Thanks JAN!!!

The warm up was a little rocky, literally, as gravel was abound, and the women may not have been used to the warm weather and long swords of grass but they took it all in stride.

Face paint came out, spray paint too, and before you know it, everyone was orange and blue (no more rhymes I mean it..anybody want a peanut?)…Posters were made of giant numbers 1, 2 and 3, so that the sidelines could rate and count levels of tackles. And with that it was time for Tacklefest to begin with a NY kick off.

Game #1
With Michelle Bruce and Rachel Flynn captaining the side, NY set out against the U23 MARFU Developmental side. The game started much as NY likes to, by a score in the first minute. Tyshawn “Miss April 29th” Henry took it up the right side, showcasing her ability to outstep and outrun any attempt at tackling, and put it under the posts.

NY would miss a penalty kick early on but kept the pressure on. The opposition seemed to be offsides, as though it were their job, and so the game was slightly messy for most of the time. Tyshawn would make a tackle that would cause the sidelines to add all their numbers together and Katie Brethel would also hit a level 3 tackle, which was deemed a late hit and after repeated pressure, MARFU broke through to make an unconverted try.

The first half saw some amazing angle runs by Jenny “I’m deserting NY” Kuchar and Jenna “I insert better than a straw in coke” Flateman. And with a weak side Hooker try by Kate Audage and a pig pile put down by Michelle Bruce the 25 minute half ended 24-5 for NY.

The second half saw some fresh legs on the pitch and despite Mint Chocolate Chip’s attempt to change the rules of rugby, NY would repeat the first half scoring. With a penalty within 20, the NY pack would set a maul (yes I said it, we set mauls) and drive it cadence-led over the line where Steph “this will be my last weekend in non-bright blue cleats” Paddock would touch it down.

One MARFU girl, upset at being called a “little girl”, started a conversation with teammates as to who was more Ghetto, girls from Philly or girls from NY…do we need a ruling?

Flyhalf Rebecca Brafman would have a huge run up the field to “send the kuch away” and Flateman would fly through more missed tackles for another try. Prop substitution Katie Mac would put away the last try on a pick and drive over the line, and with Maura “My knee brace is somewhere in DC can you get it” Weikman would convert to end the first game with a 48-5 score!

Game #2
With a half an hour rest, the women were back on the line to warm up, and despite a questionable roll in the gravel, ready to face the Nova Developmental in match number two.

4pm kick off and Can we say Day Cha VIEW!! Tyshawn “I said a boom chica boom” Henry would score on a straight up hands play. Flateman would take it left on a hard angle run to put another one away and Kate “wing is ok but I heart flanker” Hobbs was set free on another hands play to take the ball home to the left once more. MJ stepped in on a few plays at scrum half to pass the ball out to the backs.

Play would be slow and iffy at times, but NY finished the half leading in the twenties. The second half brought disgruntled ruggers as it was rumored the meat pies were sold out, but NY made up for the lack of meat, by scoring lots more tries. Forwards lining up outside the backs set both Ty and Rosie McGowan up for tries and with more angle runs and more tackling NY finished up 42-0.

Sat Night
JLo, Alison and Daniela would make their exit for the weekend and with a successful day behind them, NY set off for food and merriness. Due to the fact that the social was 30 minutes away, half opted to stay put and TV shows ruled the night, those that went out, had an amicable time and sleep was had by all.

Game #3 - Semi Final
With an earlier start on Sunday, NY came out firing! This time it was against Philly Developmental. Despite an ill controlled offsides line, the forwards had improved support and rucks, which allowed rookie, April G-M, to get lots of decent ball to a slicing and dicing back line. Rachel Flynn would interrupt many a Philly lineout ball and hooker Audie would show that hers would be untouched. NY started off the game running down hill and while forward pressure was high, they opened up lots of space for the backs to run and try and try and try.

With time limited during regular weekends we were able to see some hard play in bulk from Cris “what you gonna do with all that” Junquera, rookie Gill Pressman, and many more. And April G-M would take a full day of play under the belt as she sneaked in against Philly on the right. In the second half NY would spend much of their time pinned in their own end. But they still managed to get out and score. With repeated lineouts and scrums, it wasn’t until the last play of the game that Philly would dive over the line for the only five points they would get. The final score was NY on top, 42-5.

Game #4 - Final
And then there were none….It turned out NY would not get the showdown it expected as Back in Black had fallen to another team. And now only the social final stood between NY and their trophy. They would be playing against the Norfolk Storm, a team started by Captain Annie “Sinead O’Connor” Collier.

The best ref thus far would judge the game for the social giants. NY would show their depth and game play with a passion in the last game, topping off a weekend of forward and back integration, angling back runs, and constant fire. Captain on the field, Audage, would lead a strong pack in a second half, for a push over try, the first of the NY season.

Lisa “I’m a center” Lake added a ONE to her three jersey as she found her self in support of a hard running, and strong communicating Brafman, to finish off a run started by Kuchar and MacCallum. Lake would make a two on one pass to Flateman who must have been the top scorer for the weekend. NY would rise triumphantly to a 46-0 victory and claim their top social division championship. Maybe it’s the sun?

Post-script
If nothing else is remembered from these games remember that every back scored, their angles and attack were marvelous, many a forward jumped along in support and rucks were cleaned up as the weekend wore on. Bruce and Brethel won Tacklefest in points added for types of crushing tackles, winning t-shirts to commemorate the mark. Brafman and Flynn were tallied as having the highest over amount of tackles on the weekend and MJ and April got the Heart Balls from Drew for spectacular playing over the weekend.

With a Gift Certificate from Balls Out rugby it’s a shame NY couldn’t cash it in for another trip to warm sunny weather, meat pies and a weekend to kick butt!!

Stay tuned for this weekend’s recap of Austin’s first trip to the Big Apple…