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A sold-out crowd of 2,000 jammed into Gaelic Park on Saturday evening to watch Rugby United New York dismantle the visiting Boston Mystics by 50-0. For a second straight week they enjoyed a four-try first half, with a 29-0 score at the break leaving little doubt who would win the contest. The result itself is largely unimportant with the historic first of a professional rugby game within the confines of New York City of eminently greater meaning.
An early penalty goal from Jack Fitzpatrick got his team off to a strong start but it was Boston who appeared to score the first touchdown. Mystics prop Pino Maupese broke the line and though he was felled managed to offload to Matías de Paolis. The Argentine looked for all money to be in but to the delight of the crowd the officials ruled he had stepped over the dead ball line before grounding the ball.
Instead the honor of scoring the first try in the Bronx went – appropriately – to New York skipper Dylan Fawsitt at the back of a driving maul. Zippy scrumhalf Marcus Walsh found a gap in the Boston defense to slide through for try number two. The third went to Michael St. Claire who showed some deft footballing skill to hack ahead a Luke Hume grubber and win the race to the end zone. Try number four was a more straightforward line break from midfielder Chris Vakasisikakala.
The second half yielded three tries, two to replacement scrumhalf Mike Petri. A veteran of three World Cup campaigns with the Eagles, the 33-year-old Brooklyn native realized a dream by scoring a try as a professional in his home city. Ross Deacon grabbed one on a pick-and-go from in close before Petri ended the try-scoring with his second. Connor Wallace-Sims handled the conversion, this fourth of the game, to bring up the half-century.
New York will travel to Boston next weekend for their first away match. In the meantime the arrival of professional rugby in New York will be celebrated long into the night, and might well carry on straight through to the New Year when the team officially becomes a full member of Major League Rugby.
SCORING
NEW YORK 50
Tries – D. Fawsitt (12′), M. Walsh (25′), M. St. Claire (32′), C. Vakasisikakala (39′), M. Petri 2 (57′, 77′), R. Deacon (70′)
Cons – J. Fitzpatrick 2/3 (13′, 26′), C. Wallace-Sims 4/4 (40′, 58′, 71′, 78′)
Pens – J. Fitzpatrick 1/1 (3′)
BOSTON 0
TEAMS
RUGBY UNITED NEW YORK
1 Anthony Parry, 2 Dylan Fawsitt (capt.), 3 Kirk Hamilton, 4 David Gannon, 5 Nate Brakeley, 6 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, 7 James Denise, 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Marcus Walsh, 10 Jack Fitzpatrick, 11 Michael St. Claire, 12 Connor Wallace-Sims, 13 Chris Vakasisikakala, 14 Greg Voigt, 15 Luke Hume
Replacements: 16 Mike Brown, 17 Brian McKellar, 18 Chris Sullivan, 19 Dave Shotton, 20 Nick Wolley, 21 Mike Petri, 22 Jake Feury, 23 Kyle Granby, 24 Mike Tagliaferro
BOSTON MYSTICS
1 Pino Maupese, 2 Greg Rasmuson, 3 Steve Cappello, 4 Rob Brennan, 5 Dave McKenna, 6 Chris Frazier, 7 Jon Kokinda, 8 Michael Kaivelata, 9 Ian Luciano, 10 Santiago Bertranou, 11 Vini Daley, 12 Matías de Paolis, 13 Paulo Aukuso, 14 Stephen Dazzo, 15 Jared Collinson
Replacements: 16 Devin Ibanez, 17 Gianni Miceli, 18 Scott Lucas, 19 Keaton Cashin, 20 Andrew Burns, 21 Erik Thompson, 22 Matt Dunleavy, 23 Akinola Raymond, 24 Jeff Laflamme
Attendance: 2,000
