On a beautiful day for rugby at Pier 40 NYM started where they left off against Bayonne last week by posting 38 unanswered points in the first 35 minutes. Full of running rugby in the first half NYM allowed Landowne back in the door in the second half to temper the win slightly.

The forecast of thunderstorms for Saturday gave way to beautiful skies and and warm 70 degrees on a perfect day for rugby. Plenty of people were on the sidelines to watch NYM run out for their first game of the year at their nominal home. Lansdowne were promoted to D2 for the 07-08 season and acquitted themselves well so NYM were antipating a decent test. With this in mind, and after the win last week, we came out firing on all cylinders, hitting rucks and tackles hard and running intelligently. Lineouts and scrums were solid all night. Once we got the bit between the teeth the game opened up and the ball skills of the back row and backs came to the fore. Scores came from a variety of places...and by the 35 minute mark NYM had racked up 38 points, at more than a point a minute, to nil despite a game Lansdowne side. Number 8 Brian Piantedosi had a great game and opened the scoring after running onto an inch-perfect chip by flyhalf Dylan Garner. Both teams were warned for a scuffle off the ball during the scoring movement, illustrating the physicality of the game. After that NYM sent it wide often, with James Dawson benefitting out on the left wing to round the cover and score. On a training-ground move fullback Rich Richardson took a pass from scrumhalf Ed Brydon to make huge inroads from a scrum on halfway. After being tackled the ball was recycled for Cody Eckstein to drive over the line. Following more open play and another series of breaks NYM had a ruck on the 22 where a cheeky dink over top by Ed Brydon saw Dylan Garner follow up and touch down with some help from the complacency of a covering Lansdowne defender. Dylan would notch two tries on the evening, the second coming after flanker Cody Eckstein made huge inroads from our own half. Breaking three tackles on the way through evasive running he drew the last man to send Dylan away. Not to be outdone Dosi followed up with an almost carbon-copy to lay in on a plate for inside center Ryan McGarrity to stroll home. At that point NYM allowed Lansdowne to exert some pressure through pick-and goes, eventually breaching the home defense to score a converted try. Thus the teams went into halftime at 38-7 to NYM.

NYM came out to reticfy that score and immediately started strongly again, going wide or probing with kicks behind Lansdowne. Another nice break from Richardson took the ball deep into Lansdowne territory where he popped off the ground to the suporting Ed Brydon, who shipped it out wide for the backs to send Matt Venzin round the corner with a nice pass-assist from wing Dave Moylan. With the game seemingly up NYM made several changes to the halfbacks and in the pack. This resulted somewhat in a drop off in cohesion. Along with all the running done in the first half the press defense started to slack off and allow the Lansdowne ball carriers to get to or beyond the gainline. Thus for the last 25 minutes or so NYM were under the cosh and Lansdowne put in 3 more tries. NYM did round things off however with a final surge which ended with lock Trevor Cassidy placing the ball over the try line for a final tally of NYM 50 - Lansdowne 26.

Team: 1. La Morgia, 2. Baker, 3. Bury, 4. Cassidy, 5. Layfield, 6. Crafton (Persanis, 40' to hooker, Baker to  flanker), 7. Eckstein, 8. Piantedosi (McNeill, 60' Eckstein to number 8), 9. Brydon (Vega, 50'), 10. Garner, 11. Dawson, 12. McGarrity (Papillon, 60' to fly half, Garner to center), 13. Venzin, 14. Moylan, 15. Richardson.

Tries: Garner (2), Piantedosi, Dawson, Eckstein, McGarrity, Venzin, Cassidy. Cons: Garner (5).

Man of the Match: Forwards - Eckstein, Backs - McGarrity.

The B-side took on iona College in a re-match of last spring. This time the contest was much more even and it ultimately came down to a few mistakes by NYM, a well-drilled Iona pack, and the fitness of the students. NYM scored 3 tries but lost a close game as iona pipped them by scoring 4. Iona's wing picked off a miss-pass in NYM centers to seal it with their final try before young Syracuse flanker Bobby Jones ran in a score for NYM's consolation.

Tries: McGoldrick, Chevallier, Jones.

Man of the Match: Forwards - Chevallier, Backs - Mizzone