Boston Mystic River & Rugby United New York

Boston Mystic River will face Rugby United New York on Saturday, March 31 at 5 pm at Roberto A. Mignone Field at Harvard University. Tickets are $10 at the field, with students with ID 50% off and children under 12 are free. This is a rematch of last week’s loss to Rugby United New York at Gaelic Park on March 24.

Rugby United New York vs. Boston Mystic River March 24 Recap

Rugby United New York won their second consecutive match on March 24 against Boston Mystic River 50-0. This came after beating the Ontario Arrows 36-19 on March 17 at Iona College. For Boston Mystic River, it was their first match of the 2018 season.

RUNY opened the scoring after a penalty was called on Boston for not rolling away. Fly-half Jack Fitzpatrick slotted the kick for a 3-0 lead. Boston Mystic River then had an opportunity to take the lead as loosehead prop Pino Maupese found a gap and offloaded to Matias De Paolis for an apparent try. De Polis, however, stepped over the dead-ball line prior to grounding the ball.

RUNY captain Dylan Fawsitt mauled his way over the line from a lineout for the first try of the match. RUNY added another try after Michael St. Claire had a long break and after some phases by the forwards, Marcus Walsh dotted down and Fitzpatrick added the conversion, increasing the lead to 17-0. Several minutes later, St. Claire gathered a Luke Hume grubber and kicked ahead just beating Michael Kaivelata, the defender. Fitzpatrick’s conversion was short.

St. Claire had another long run and Chris Vakaisikakala finished for a try. Connor Wallace-Sims took over the kicking duties and slotted the conversion for a 29-0 lead at the break.

Boston Mystic River opened the second half putting New York under pressure with a goal-line defense before a knock on thwarted the scoring opportunity.

RUNY would add three more tries in the match for a final of 50-0. The first came after a Jake Feury run and an offload to Greg Voigt and then to Mike Petri for the try. The second came after Ross Deacon dove over the line and the final try had Dave Gannon offloading to Petri for his second try. Wallace-Sims slotted all three conversions.

Boston Mystic River

Boston Mystic Rugby will play their second consecutive match against Rugby United New York. They suffered a loss last week and hope to rebound at home. In April and May, they will play the Ontario Arrows.

Head Coach Josh Smith has revamped the forwards with Jeff Laflamme at hooker, Andrew Burns at lock, Devin Ibañez and Joe Shurmaitis at flanker. The rest of the forwards and all the backs retain their positions as starters. Both Dana Corcoran and Cody Davidowicz also join the squad as reserves.

Forward starters include Pino Maupese (20, 6’1″, 260) at loosehead prop. He is from East Auckland, New Zealand and played representative side rugby for the Papatoetoe Premier team. Jeff Laflamme (30 or 31) is the hooker with Dave McKenna (28, 6’5″, 275) moving from the lock to tighthead prop. Andrew Burns (29, 6’2″, 230) will pair with Michael Kaivelata Kaivelata (20, 6’5″, 260) at lock. Kaivelata is from South Auckland, New Zealand and played for the Manukau Rovers Premier team at lock. The back row has Jon Kokinda (32, 5’9″, 200) moving from flanker to No. 8. He also played for the NE Academy from 2012-2015. At flanker are Devin Ibañez (24, 5’11”, 200), who played for the USA at the 2017 Maccabiah Games for Glenfield Rugby Premier Team, as well as for Sydney East and the Maccabiah Blues. He was the captain at UMass. He pairs with Joe Shurmaitis (26).

The backs include Ian Luciano (23, 5’9″, 180) from Sydney, Australia at scrumhalf, who played for NE ODA. He is paired with flyhalf Santiago Bertranou (23, 6′, 185) from Mendoza, Argentina. The centers are Matias De Paolis (24, 5’8″, 177) from Mendoza, Argentina and Paulo Aukuso (29, 5’10”, 215) from Wellington, New Zealand. Aukuso played for Oriental Rongotai. The wings are Vini Daley (28, 5’10”, 195) and Stephen Dazzo (26, 6′, 225), both who played for NE ODA. Jared Collison (27, 5’10”, 205) also from the NE ODA, rounds out the starting XV at fullback.

The reserves include Steve Cappello (28, 6’1″, 260), who played for USA Rugby South, at tighthead prop. Gianni Miceli (26, 6’3″, 270) a prop or lock, played at Norwich University. Scott Lucas (38, 6′, 250) is also a prop. Keaton Cashin (27, 6″2″, 220) played for the Irish International Hockey team and rugby at Salem State University. Erik Thompson (22, 5’10”, 185) was an HS All-American and played for UCLA. Akinola Raymond (24, 5’10”, 180) is from Lagos, Nigeria was a USA HS All-American in 2012 and also played for the NE ODA. Sam Sirell (26/27, 5’11”, 205) is a center.

Boston Mystic River: 1 Pino Maupese 2 Jeff Laflamme 3 Dave McKenna 4 Andrew Burns 5 Michael Kaivelata 6 Devin Ibañez 7 Joe Shurmaitis 8 Jon Kokinda 9 Ian Luciano 10 Santiago Bertranou 11 Vini Daley 12 Matias De Paolis 13 Paulo Aukuso 14 Stephen Dazzo 15 Jared Collison 16 Scott Lucas 17 Dana Corcoran 18 Cody Daidowicz 19 Gianni Miceli 20 Keaton Cashin 21 Erik Thompson 22 Sam Sirell 23 Akinola Raymond 24 Steve Cappello + Head Coach Josh Smith

Rugby United New York

Rugby United New York is 2-0 after beating the Ontario Arrows 36-19 on March 17 and Boston Mystic River 50-0 on March 24. The team traveled to play their second match consecutive match against Boston Mystic River at Harvard University.

Mike Tolkin has made four changes and one positional changes from last week’s team against Boston Mystic River. Nick Wooley, Jake Feury, and Mike Petri get their first start at flanker, inside center and at Scrumhalf, respectively. Seamus Kelly returns to the lineup at outside center, while Connor Wallace-Sims moves from inside center to fullback in place of Luke Hume. Both wings, Greg Voigt and Michael St. Claire also swap #11 and #14.

New forward reserves include Callum Mackintosh from the Village Lions and Robert McMahon from NYAC. In the backs are James Bird from Old Blue and Bolsted.

The starting forwards include Anthony Parry, at loosehead prop, ( 27, 6’1″, 245) who played professionally for the Ohio Aviators. At tighthead prop is Kirkland Hamilton (28, 6’1″, 250) who played for Rutgers. At Hooker, is Dylan Fawsitt, who is the captain. He is 27, 6’0″, 225, and has three caps for the Eagles. He also has played with the Ohio Aviators, Life University, and Blackrock in Ireland.

The locks include David Gannon (25 years old, 6’5″, 240) who played with Connacht and for Ireland A. Nate Brakeley is 28, 6’5″, 260 and has 15 caps for the Eagles.

The back row consists of flankers Nick Wooley from NYAC and James Denise, the NYAC captain. Denise is 30, 6’2″, and 240 pounds. At No. 8 is Ross Deacon, (24, 6’2″, and 240) who played for the USA U20s, Leinster U20s, Landsdowne (Dublin, Ireland), and for NYAC.

The backs include scrumhalf Mike Petri (Eagles 57 caps, NYAC, 33, 5’10”, 190),who is paired with Jack Fitzpatrick (24, 5’11” and 198lbs.), who has played for Canada A, Ireland U18s, and for Trinity College.center Jake Feury (Middlebury College) is at inside center and Eagles Seamus Kelly is at outside center. Connor Wallace-Sims, a Northeast Academy, and Eagles 7s player iis at fullback, with the wings, Mike St. Claire, an Old Blue, and Northeast Academy player and Greg Voight, from NYAC at wing.

The reserve forwards include hooker Mike Brown (26, 5’11”, 220), props Brian McKellar (Penn State, NYAC, Collegiate All-American, 23, 6’2″, 250) and Chris Sullivan 6’0″, 255) from Monmouth RFC and the USA Selects, lock Dave Shotton (30, 6’10”, 245) from Manly, and flanker Gvan D’Mare-Morrison is (6’2″, 215). Robert McMahon is also a reserve.

The reserve backs include scrumhalf former Connacht scrumhalf, Marcus Walsh. He is 26, 5’7″, and 170 pounds. wing Kyle Granby (Old Blue), and Mike Tagliaferro (RPI). Chris Vakasisikakala at center (25, 5’11”, 215) played with the Pittsburgh Harlequins. Alex Schwartz, an Eagles 7s player from Old Blue, James Bird, an Eagle Flyhalf from Old Blue round out the squad. It is not clear about the player listed as Bolsted, if the spelling is correct instead of Bolstad.

Rugby United New York: 1 Anthony Parry, 2 Dylan Fawsitt (capt.), 3 Kirkland Hamilton, 4 David Gannon, 5 Nate Brakeley, 6 Nick Wooley 7 James Denise, 8 Ross Deacon, 9 Mike Petri, 10 Jack Fitzpatrick, 11 Greg Voigt, 12 Jake Feury 13 Seamus Kelly 14 Mike St. Claire,15 Connor Wallace-Sims, 16 Mike Brown, 17 Brian McKellar, 18 Chris Sullivan, 19 Callum Mackintosh 20 Dave Shotton, 21 Robert McMahon 22 Alex Schwartz 23 Gavan D’Amore-Morrison, 24 Marcus Walsh 25 James Bird 26 Chris Vakasisikakala (pending) 27 Kyle Granby 28 Bolsted,+ Head Coach Mike Tolkin (Reserve #s were not available)