NYM lost heavily to White Plains on Saturday. A very disappointing result for the A's was given some slight tonic by the B's victory.

After going to sleep for much of the first half the A side woke up a bit in the second half with two tries. The future of the club at least looks to be in good hands with new guys Saad Cecil and Matt Venzin touching down their first tries for NYM in the B game. A full report will follow.

NYM opened up at Pier 40 strongly, taking the game to White Plains through the forwards with guys running hard and keeping the ball alive. After a good 5 minutes spent on the front foot former Old Colfeian Dave Elwell stepped up fom fullback to score his first points for NYM from a drop goal. NYM went straight back down into White Plains half in a similar manner but let them off the hook and allowed them to work their way into our half. In their first real foray quick ruck ball was spread out to the backs where their center handed off powerfully before a back and forth handling movement with the wing to score. NYM were undeterred but sloppy play and a flicking of the mental off-switch allowed White Plains to gain superiority. We then sat back and watched as they scored another 5 tries in the half to go into the break 36-3 up! Ouch.

The second half was a more gritty affair and while NYM did suffer more concentration lapeses, allowing the White Plains scrum half two further tries, we did play some good rugby, coming back hard to notch two tries of our own. Matt Smith was good for two out of three on the day as he converted a try and a penalty in the half. Bastien Galand came into the back row and immediately made a nuisance of himself, as did Chris Agnew in the front row. Trini continued to display his lovely running balance and skills, with one one-handed pick up at full speed being the highlight. Kenny Nikaido also showd some good touches when he came on at full back.

The B game was very toughly contested, with neither side backing down. Both Matt Venzin, playing in the centers, and Saad Cecil at wing, in only his second game, scored tries. Saad managed to score from 70m out but was sin-binned immediately after for taunting the chaser as he out ran him even while jogging. We had a large number of guys come out and were able to give everyone game time, even though it meant in some cases people had to play just a half. It is extremely encouraging for the club and the fact the B's won 17-12 shows we have good competition for places in the A-side. This is important given the injuries that are starting to mount up. Fitzy is out for the season and it is looking the same for Duncan Heilbronn who turned his ankle, again. Get well soon guys.

Thanks to all those who came out to support again and help set up the field.