Last weekend, your New York Rugby Club traveled with 21 of its finest (not including Laura Fautley, Liam Fautley, Laura’s well-groomed friend, Sharon Stone, and Mrs. Pete Galen) to South Brunswick, New Jersey to compete in the New Jersey 7s Tournament. As promised, we returned with hardware.

NYM entered two sides in the open division. Our first side advanced to the Cup Finals and the second side advanced to the Bowl Finals. The second side emerged as Bowl Champions and the first side took runner-up honors in the Cup competition. Two pieces of hardware were well-earned by some of your newest and oldest members. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Brian Fitzgerald (Captain), Chemical “Ali” Ozur, Bill Rizzo, Keith Gray, Blackeyed “Pete” Galen, Kevin Burke, Tom Sullivan, Brian Eastman, Kenny Nikaido, Scott Crafton, Richie Richardson, Nick the Greek, Josh Yakatan, Ben Whitney, Keelan “Backslap” Walker, Danny Sonon, Cody Eckstein, Dirty Irish Mike (!), AND LAST BUT NEVER LEAST . . . . . . .. . . . Drew Fautley (!!!!!)

As you can see, we traveled without a few of our most experienced and gifted players. Our success yesterday is attributable to DEDICATGED & FIERCE TEAM PLAY by all and WISE COUNSEL from our interim coaching staff (i.e., Drew Fautley and your author).

Highlights:

(1) Our Bowl Side (the new name for the former B Side -- when they win the Plate at Newport they will be know as the P Side) beating NJ Tech in the semis. Probably some of the best 7s we played all day, especially the passing between Nick the Greek and Kev Burke.

(2) ALBANY TOM SULLIVAN. He had about a hundred tries yesterday. And he played un-Tothlessly for both the Cup side and the Bowl side when necessary. Well done and much thanks, Tom.

(3) CODY ECKSTEIN’S HIT. I am a big fan of BIG HITS. The D-Side’s Cody Eckstein ended the Cup Finals with a thunderous SMASH that some of you may have heard back here in NYC. Most impressive is the fact that Cody delivered the game-ending blow with a busted shoulder. Cody (along with Kev Burke, Fitzie, Galen, Ben, and others) also contributed un-Tothlessly to both sides. As I was writing this, Cody told me to mention the fact that he made a pretty cool behind-the-back pass assist for a try.

(4) BRIAN “FITZY” FITZGERALD. Any doubts as to why this guy is our regular-season Captain were clearly dispelled yesterday by anyone who witnessed Fitzie’s gutsy and skillful performance ALL DAY LONG. His golden foot, knocking in conversions from the both sidelines, was the margin of victory in at least two games. I don’t believe he missed any of our many conversions. THANKS, FITZ!!!!!!

I will not bore y’all with additional details. Suffice to say, your Club dug deep in yesterday’s heat and played some fantastic and successful rugby. Much and many thanks to all who participated, especially my interim assistant coach, Drew Fautley. For the obvious reasons (me), the Club is deeply indebted to Drew for yesterday’s success. THANK YOU, DREW!!!

NEWPORT 7s IS JULY 29TH. IT’S ONE OF THE MOST FANTASTIC TIMES YOU CAN HAVE PLAYING RUGBY. THE STARS WILL ALLIGN. WE WILL ENTER 3 SIDES. WE WILL CONCLUDE THIS SUMMER’S 7s CAMPAIGN BY WINNING 50 lbs OF RHODE ISLAND HARDWARE. BE A PART OF IT. GET YOURSELF READY FOR SARANAC AND THE FALL SEASON. COME TO PRACTICE THURSDAY AT 7 PM AT PIER 40. IN THE MEANTIME, SWEAT AND LIFT HEAVY THINGS.

Pete Smith