For the first time in, I dare not even venture how long, the New York Women had home matches in MANHATTAN!! That’s right people, not Randall’s Island, not Coney Island, and not Staten Island. They faced nationally ranked #7, and NRU rival, Keystone, and a Motley side, in night matches at Pier 40, this past Saturday, in the Heart of the Big Apple!!! A professional length, width and grade artificial field was a first for the girls.

It also appeared as though the NY women had made a deal with the weather gods as foreboding bad weather did not arrive in such a vengeance as believed. They apparently compromised that it would only shower during warm up and for a few minutes early on, so that they would actually get to play this home match. It turned out this was previously paid in full for all the flood weather they had played in thus far. Nice deal ladies!

Friends, family and fans came out from all over to create the biggest sideline this season. Leading the cheers and support for NY were the Orange and Blue’s walking wounding: Steph “Anything worth doing is worth doing twice” Paddock, Jenna “I take the term, getting ripped, literally” Flateman, Anna “Don’t you just love the AC joint” Stevenson, Kelly “You ref, I’ll change the kid’s diaper” McMahon, and Rachel “18 hours in the ER” Flynn.

Senior Side-1st Half

Warming up in mysterious new gray tees and wearing “road cone” orange socks, NY fended off the sprinkling and took the field to kick off. But they came out a little lead footed, as missed tackles and communication led for a few big Keystone runners to get some yardage early on. NY focused heavily on rucks and made a point to keep five times the amount of possessions the Keystone squad.

With a wider field than the Atlantic Ocean, there was constant space on both sides to attack. Wings, Henry and Brafman were able to get the ball and make some hard runs. NY had quick ball all day, however in the first half they rarely contained the opposition’s forwards, who waiting on the fringes in a solid wall to smother NY’s chances.

Keenya “Anyone up for a little hiking” Warner found out that the ref may not have been on our same page as far as rules were concerned. The Ref ruled that there would be no use of boots on anyone on the ground, which would make for frustration and penalties on both sides; stepping over bodies not only made for some messy ball but also flat out -just no fun! Another fun adjustment was the Ref’s command of no pre-binding on the legs in lineouts, which, again NY learned the hard way with a free kick against them.

With some slow ball pick and go’s the forwards managed to create some vertical attack space for the backs but as a whole NY just couldn’t get over the line. Scrumhalf Knight would take a sneaky run up and kicks would be chased. At 24 minutes a Keystone penalty put NY in range for an attempt for points and with a successful kick by flyhalf Kristin Baja, NY would take the lead 3-0. No other points would be up for grabs for either team until the half time whistle blew, although the majority of the game had been spent in the Keystone end.

2nd Half

The second half saw a seemingly different team take the field. During the kick off, a quick ruck sent five “I remember being 170lbs in pre-k” forwards, in a pass and support mood, up the weak side for a run to bring major field advantage to NY. And that wasn’t going to be the last time! Run Banger, Choo Choo, Lake and Ghetto!

NY had almost 100% success with their own lineouts on the night, not to mention some decent disruption of Keystones. And so the with the forwards producing secure ball the pack set a nice platform for the backs to start weaving their magic. One layman fan was quoted as saying “The backs running, and moving was gorgeous. How the team was so coordinated was beautiful and amazing to watch.”

Keenya would find a hole fit for a back and, in less than three minutes in, put the home girls up 8-0. After another ‘Big Girls on the move’ NY would find themselves unable to try with running pods on a penalty but would steal the opposing scrums ball. They would be held up in goal and have a chance for a scrum at the 5 meter. With cadence and pressure they drove the 5 meters and Scrumhalf Lee “You tackle me offsides? Watch this!” Knight touched down the ball between Brethel’s legs for the senior side’s first push over try of the season.

After many minutes of brilliant backline plays, NY was dominating scrums, fighting hard rucks and tension was rising on both sides. NY had made their way within the Keystone 22. Where while getting hit by defense Lee “I give you this ball and look what I get” Knight would send it weak left to Katie “I passed twice today before contact” MacCallum, who would dish it to Phaidra “Not a contact minute, I’ve just broken my foot, play on!” Knight, who in turn would see Maura “They’re passing it out again..yay!” Weikman, who would set Tyshawn Henry free for a corner rounding run into the try zone.

After a few more minutes of hussle and bussle, the entire back line would Matrix their way up, each back touching the ball and finally sending former captain Hedwig “They don’t call me Hollywood for nothing” Aerts, to take it bursting around the defense to put it in at the 26th minute. Kristin “Thanks for finally scoring within a normal pitch distance” Baja would knock through the conversion.

A sacrificing body pass by MoJow Weikman would bring in Jenny “I’m a NRU U23 All Star” Kuchar to fullback and also joining the pack would be Katie “Kill” Hill, seeing her first contact since last weeks injury caused her to get her cheek glued. Phaidra would have a high count of tackles for the night and Belly Painting made a debut from some all star players and fans!

More “hot” lineouts and “hot” ball would give the backs platform for play and after a few more minutes of hardwork and pressure, against a tiring opposition, the Tyshawn “Can’t touch this” Henry into the try zone for the final try of the game. Kristin Baja would put the conversion through and NY would finish on top 32-0.

Development side- 1st Half

With the cancellation of a second team, Keystone and New York came together to make up a motley side and take on the NY Developmental side. Senior players having already played 80 minutes and NY developmental players made up 2/3’s, if not more, of the motley side, so at times it seemed like an intersquad scrimmage. Also playing fullback and some scrumhalf for motley was former NYer Dani!

With the same ref and the same jerseys, on both sides, the game commenced.

The NY pack seemed to dominate against Motley Crew in scrums, pushing them back, stealing ball and wheeling at will. While much of the first half was spent in the Motley half, NY couldn’t capitalize and the teams seemed to be battering rams. The solid NY pack cleaned over rucks at pace with Jen “Foo” Epstein, having seen some blood sub time in the first match, keeping possession while attacking at the fringes and prop Robin “forearm to the throat” O’Hare running weak side with support. NY disrupted most of the Motley ball and through phase play NY found that switching fields to attack with an overload was the perfect chance and at 22 minutes Kuchar bust through the defense for a try and a conversion to put NY up.

Hard hits from Junk and Brethel in the opposing pack kept the forwards at bay but knowing that space was the be found outside, less than two minutes later Daniela “#1 Football Fan” Mogro would fly through the defense for the second try. Leaving the score at the 25 minute half NY 12 to Motley 0.

2nd Half

The second half saw more momentum on the NY side and some admirable play from a Motley side that had never played together. The Motley NYer’s put up a good fight and good defense against their comrades. NY, still dominating the set pieces would maintain possession through phase play and the motley side could just not spread their field defensively. Flyhalf Becca “Serious running face” Brafman would put another one in at the three minute mark.

More phase play and solid running would set Rosie “feisty” MacGowan free with some time to show her wheels, as she would take the outside for a try to bring the score to 22.

The tries by NY led Motley “I used to be a back” kicker to have to many an attempt at drop kicks, much to her dismay and she may still not over the embarrassment (a-hem).

Alison “7’s equals back” Price, who has normally played flanker, strutted her stuff in the backline, busting through defense to slide down into the try zone. Jenny Kuchar made the conversion and set a mark of over 100 points for the season so far.

After some play in the last few minutes a small surge from the Motley side would send Kate Hobbs through a gap on a run. Ultimately motley couldn’t finish up with a try for the day and NY Development would hold their lead 29-0.

Thank you so much to all the friends, families and fans that came out to support! Join us this weekend on Coney and Staten Islands while we take on Minnesota, Atlanta and the South Select Side!