NYM made the semi-finals of the LI tournament this Saturday, allowing many members of the squad a run to build depth. We were finally beaten by Montauk, who lost to White Plains in the final.

The first game was a scrappy affair against NY All Japan. However we ran out eventual winners fairly comfortably in the end. As winners of that game we faced Met College D1 Champs USMMA Kings Points in the quarter-finals, who had earlier dispatched North Jersey. As expected the youngsters were fit and well drilled and almost caused an upset against a re-arranged NYM side. They were leading by four points into the final minutes when back-row man Bastien Galand burst through to score the clinching try for NYM, giving us a one point victory. One of the more pleasing aspects of the side this spring has been their confidence and ability to grind out a win when not playing well. Thus in the semi-finals we ran up against a physical Montauk side. When Montauk have all their pieces together they are pretty formidable but they are very up and down season-to-season. The rugby was vastly improved in this game for NYM and players who had been out of form earlier in the day came on strong, in particular first year lock Sean Danahy. However, it wasn't quite enough and Montauk took it. In a phone interview coach Gianni Lopez declared that overall he was satisfied with the day and noted that players seem to start getting the game plan and the discipline it requires to play good rugby. Above all, he noted, the players enjoyed themselves. He was particularly pleased that he was able to give everyone a substantial run, including a rookie with no experience, in order to build foundations for the future.

NYM finishes the spring with a trip to DC next weekend to play D1 NOVA.