On another glorious day at Wards Island (Randall's Island, NYC), the New York Rugby Club Men hosted Village Lions RFC. The guys showed up early for the last blowout of the season and would not disappoint a large contingent of their own NYRC supporters.

The first half was scrappy and confrontational. After several re-set scrums the Village Lions were awarded a penalty and drove it in for a 7-0 lead. In fact penalties against NYRC in the first half were abundant, with several being committed in our own 22. However, it was NYRC who struck next with an excellent multiphase buildup allowing elusive fullback Casey Mizzone a run in to the right-hand corner for an unconverted try. There was a large gap in the scoring now as both teams went at each other. NYRC had several chances go begging as first Walshy, playing like Keith Earls in the Lions opener, discovered his teflon hands at center. NYRC put together a great multiphase effort through punches and powers before Keegan was held up just short. In a similar play Tom Weishaupt was denied a try due to the referee being unsighted. Then Mike Von Borsig went on a huge run with NYRCs support taking too much time to get to him allowing the Village Lions to get a turnover at the tackle. NYRC were the next to score though as Matt Venzin powered his way over on the right for another unconverted try and the lead at 10-7. However, penalties were still hurting us and allowing the Village Lions to stay in the game. Two in quick succession, one for backchat and another for obstruction, gave the Village Lions the lead at 13-10, before Elwell landed his first penalty to get the score back to 13-13. NYRC ended the half with another try by Casey Mizzone. NYRC worked the patterns before switching play inside the 22, Dave Elwell giving a perfect draw-and-pass to put Casey into space in the left corner to dive over. Halftime NYRC 18 - 13 Village Lions.

Coming out after the break NYRC were in no mood to allow the Village Lions anything more, and indeed they didn't score again. It was all NYRC as we played to our structure and came up with aggressive defense. First on the board was Walshy, powering over close to the posts for a converted try. Huge hits were going in especially from the front row of Baker, Mazzurco/Sonon and La Morgia, who put one crunching hit in on their hooker to send him over the sideline. Only a few minutes later Ollie Vega scampered over after not being held in the tackle. Although NYRC lost a scrum against the hook and the Village Lions turned it into a large break, NYRC snuffed it out and countered well with Matt Butler leaping to take his own kick before the forwards rumbled on. Andre La Morgia and Pete Galen made some good surges close to the Village Lions line with the ball worked out for Casey Mizzone to get his hat-trick try out on the right. Walshy missed the conversion. The icing on the cake was a final try for NYRC by wing Matt Butler out on the left after the ball went through many pairs of hands, with Walshy making the difficult conversion for a final score of NYRC 44 - 13 Village Lions.

SENIOR SQUAD

NYRC Men 44 (18-13) 13 Village Lions ‘A’

Men of the Match: Casey Mizzone, Nick Baker.

08 Min 00-07 Converted Try by Village Lions
11 Min 05-07 Try by Casey MIZZONE
30 Min 10-07 Try by Matt VENZIN
33 Min 10-10 Penalty kick by Village Lions
35 Min 10-13 Penalty kick by Village Lions
39 Min 13-13 Penalty kick by Dave ELWELL
40+ Min 18-13 Try by Casey MIZZONE
Half Time
44 Min 25-13 Try by James WALSH, Converted by Dave ELWELL
48 Min 32-13 Try by Ollie VEGA, Converted by Dave ELWELL
65 Min 37-13 Try by Casey MIZZONE
75 Min 44-13 Try by Matt BUTLER, Conversion by James WALSH

Scorers

MIZZONE, Casey 15 points (3 Tries)
WALSH, James 7 points (1 Try & 1 Conversion)
ELWELL, Dave 7 points (2 Conversions & 1 Penalty kick)
VENZIN, Matt 5 points (1 Try)
VEGA, Ollie 5 Points (1 Try)
BUTLER, Matt 5 points (1 Try)

01 LA MORGIA, Andre
02 MAZZURCO, Tom
03 BAKER, Nick
04 LAYFIELD, Dan
05 KEEGAN, John
06 C-FAUTLEY, AJ
07 GALEN, Pete
08 WEISHAUPT, Tom
09 VEGA, Ollie
10 ELWELL, Dave
11 BUTLER, Matt
12 VENZIN, Matt (c)
13 WALSH, James
14 VON BORSIG, Mike
15 MIZZONE, Casey

- Reserves-Played -
16 McDERMOTT, Chris, for KEEGAN, John
17 SONON, Danny, for GALEN, Pete (SONON to Hooker, MAZZURCO to Flanker)
18 PEREZ-FOX, Prescott, for LA MORGIA, Andre
19 BRYDON, Ed, for VEGA, Ollie.

The men of the Developmental squad picked up where the Senior squad left off. After a couple of huge runs by Brynn Ireland Danny Sonon punched in the first try. Thereafter it was nip and tuck with uncharacteristic wayward passes in between electric runs by Ryan McCue and Brynn Ireland again. Indeed McCue, Ireland and big Joe Obiri in the forwards were a handful all day. Joe regularly went on lung0busting runs and always required 3 or more grown men to bring him down. Mid half injury substitutions saw Andrew Sterling come on for Ross Pike, who went down with a dead leg, and U19 Willie Dominguez on for Brynn Ireland who pulled a hammy. The half ended soon after the Village Lions got a try back to square the game at 5-5. Half time substitutions saw changes in the front row and at second row where new 6'8" lock Lucas Meyers made his debut for the Club. He replaced Larry Remmel who had given his all in the rucks and mauls in maybe his best performance of the season. Rob Cabrera made good on a penalty kick to give the lead back to NYRC 8-5. Mid way through the second half another raft of substitutions proved the back-breaker for the Village Lions with three quick tries to NYRC. First Chris McDermott made a nuisance of himself and powered over. Then NYRC won a scrum against the head, Ed Brydon spotted a gap, went and slipped a pass in the tackle to Walshy to score. The third came after great phase play, with Nolan Cella prominent. The ball was spread along the backs to capitalize on the overlap, Dwight Duncan going over. Although the Village Lions scored a consolation try, NYRC were determined not to let the season that way and battled right back up the field. A knock-on prevented a final move going in for a score though, and with that the final whistle went.

DEVELOPMENTAL SQUAD

NYRC Men 23 (05-05) 12 Village Lions ‘B’

Men of the Match: Ryan McCue, Nolan Cella

05 Min 05-00 Try by Danny SONON
35 Min 05-05 Try by Village Lions
Half Time
48 Min 08-05 Penalty kick by Rob CABRERA
65 Min 13-05 Try by Chris McDERMOTT
70 Min 18-05 Try by James WALSH
73 Min 23-05 Try by Dwight DUNCAN
78 Min 23-12 Converted Try by Village Lions

Scorers
SONON, Danny 5 points (1 Try)
McDERMOTT, Chris 5 points (1 Try)
WALSH, James 5 points (1 Try)
DUNCAN, Dwight 5 points (1 Try)
CABRERA, Rob 3 points (1 Penalty kick)

01 CELLA, Nolan (c)
02 SONON, Danny
03 PEREZ-FOX, Scott
04 REMMEL, Larry
05 OBIRI, Joe
06 LANZARA, Josh
07 LORA, Jose
08 McDERMOTT, Chris
09 CHAVIS, Arnold
10 CABRERA, Rob
11 ZARAUZ, Fernando
12 IRELAND, Brynn
13 McCUE, Ryan
14 PIKE, Ross
15 BRIERLY, Dexter

- Reserves-Played for NYRC -
STERLING, Andrew, for PIKE, Ross
DOMINGUEZ, Willie, for IRELAND, Brynn
O'BRIEN, John, for PEREZ-FOX, Prescott
MASTROGEORGIOU, Nick, for SONON, Danny (MASTROGEORGIOU to Flanker, LANZARA to Hooker)
MEYERS, Lucas for REMMEL, Larry
DUNCAN, Dwight, for ZARAUZ, Fernando
CORTES, Matteo, for BRIERLY, Dexter (CORTES to Center, DOMINGUEZ to Fullback)
BRYDON, Ed, for CHAVIS, Arnold
WALSH, James, for CABRERA, Rob
LOGUERCIO, Luca, for OBIRI, Joe (LOGUERCIO to Flanker, McDERMOTT to Lock, CELLA to #8, MASTROGEORGIOU to Prop)
SPITZER, Jeremy, for LANZARA, Josh (SPITZER to Prop, MASTROGEORGIOU to Hooker)