On Saturday evening, without 5 starters due to injury and other commitments, NYM entertained Long Island at Pier 40 and turned the season on it's head with a 51-24 victory.

So far this season NYM have started strongly only to slacken off the pace after 10minutes and allow their opponents to dominate the game. This game was always going to be tough due to the similar fortunes of the teams so far this season. NYM again started strongly and were quick out of the blocks, racing to a 10-0 lead through a try, Gil taking a great supporting line and hauling in a pass from behind his head to score, and conversion, plus a penlty kick. Scrums were evenly contested throughout the match with both teams getting some decent nudges, none quite as spectacular as the way Long Island simply disintegrated due to an NYM shove in the second scrum of the night though. Long Island came back to though through some good open, loose play, and scored a controversial try through their winger, who seemed to step on the sideline on his way in. After a lull of about 10 minutes the intensity stepped back up and see-sawed between the two teams who would score two more tries each. Firstly, Chris Agnew poached a ball at at a maul to "race" in unopposed from 20m to the stunned looks of Long Island. Long Island notched another try before Matt Beckley found a huge hole in their defense and dived over the line to score near the posts. At this point Dave Elwell pulled a paper hamstring of his to be replaced by Welsh cocktaiol wizard Henry Williams, with Matt Venzin going to center. Weak tackling from NYM then allowed the Long Island No8 to bust through to the line. The half closed out 22-19 to NYM.

NYM started the second half badly, allowing Long Island to play their game through their No8, who was consistently breaking the gain-line. They built on this by punching in another try to take the lead for the first time on the night. Despite a couple more promising passages of play, notably through their fly-half, that was Long Island for the night. NYM turned the screw and after another 10 minutes of fighting their way back into the game started to score. Due to the rapid fire nature of the tries I probably can't remember the exact order or who else scored; Matt Beckley rumbled over for another, Henry dotted down in the right corner, Matt Smith grounded one over the line at a ruck, Matt Persanis burrowed over and Cody Eckstein got on the scoresheet after he got on the end of a hike back through the legs from Matt Smith. A few opportunites went begging also, most blatantly when Gil mis-used the generosity of Matt Venzin by knocking on a perfectly weighted pass inside the try zone. Matt Smith converted two of the tries to give the scoreline a final look of 51-24. This was a great team effort but we still have to work harder around the pitch to avoid giving away soft tries. Mike Annnicelli was a pain in the ass around the breakdown, continuously hounding their scrum half. Scott Crafton put in a great performance around the park as usual, often there first to make the tackle, and ruled the roost for us in the lineout. For his hard work Scott got Man of the Match. Dick of the day went to Gil for looking a gift horse in the mouth and declining it with teflon hands.

In the B game, which was played with shortened halves, NYM were able to field a strong side despite a slight downturn in numbers this week. Late subs from the A-game started alongside a number fo guys who are growing in confidence and experience. Long Island were kept to a single penalty, while Saad Cecil continued his impressive form with two tries and 5 "welcome to rugby" stiches above the eye. The forwards also got in on the act fo a try, while Gianni Lopez and Pete Middlemas combined to knock over a penalty and two conversions between them. Ryan "Hot-Tub" Hodson earned the Man of the Match for his hardworking display on the wing complete with a try. The final score was 27-3.