New York Athletic Club (NYAC) vs. Glendale Raptors

NYAC Rugby will host the Glendale Raptors on Saturday, April 7 at 1 pm EDT at Travers Island. The Glendale Raptors are 2-0 in Major League Rugby pre-season competition, while NYAC played one MLR team, the Houston SaberCats, losing 39-38 in a hotly contested match. NYAC Rugby Club is one of the finest USA Rugby Division 1 clubs in the country, making it to the 2017 Club 15s National Final.

Preceding the match at 11 am the NYAC Rugby B side will face the Fairfield Yankees. The reserves will NYAC against the Raptors will be selected from the B side. Chris Edwards, Head Coach for NYAC ‘Rugby, has identified the potential reserves, subject to change.

Rugby United New York does not have a match this week, so the match against the Glendale Raptors was possible. There has been a great deal of cooperation between RUNY and the Empire GU clubs. Sixteen of NYAC players are part of the RUNY team, with twelve having started a match. This cooperation provides additional high-performance matches for players from both teams.

NYAC Rugby vs Glendale Raptors

The New York Athletic Club (NYAC Rugby Club) has a rich history of winning national club championships. Australian Chris Edwards, current head coach, played for the Australian Schoolboys and for Eastern Suburbs. He has taken over the head coaching duties from Mike Tolkin, who is now the head coach of the Rugby United New York, a Major League Rugby 2018 Associate member and 2019 member. Luke Cousins, who is from London, is the Assistant Coach. Ryszard Chadwick is also an Assistant Coach. He also coaches for the Northeast Academy and is the New York Rugby Club Women’s Rugby Head Coach.

The NYAC Rugby Club includes two USA Eagles in Nate Brakeley and Seamus Kelly. Quentin Pradere played with the London Scottish, Marcus Walsh with Connacht, Ross Deacon with the Lansdowne (Dublin), as well as for the Leinster and USA U20s, Gethin Davies with Blackheath and Ealing, Alex Hodgkinson with the Sacramento Express, and Anthony Parry with the Ohio Aviators.

The team has a formidable front row with USA Islander and Former Rutgers player Kirkland Hamilton joining Brian McKellar from Penn State at Prop. Anthony Parry is at hooker, but also played prop for RUNY. Another standout former collegiate player Joe Kelly played at Penn State.

Potential reserves include John Santiago, who played at Notre Dame College, Adam Zeich, formerly of Morris, Ryan McTiernan, who played for both the Ohio Aviators and Village Lions, Stuart Williamson (Australian under-20s), David Snead, a scrumhalf who played collegiate rugby initially at Arkansas State before transferring to Kutztown University.

Glendale Raptors

Head Coach David Williams has made five changes and a positional change from last week’s 42-15 win over the Utah Warriors. Nick Kwasniewski, Grigor Kerdikoshvili, Devin Vaughter, Brian Wanless, and Nick Johnson gain their first starts of the pre-season at tighthead prop, lock, at flankers, and at fullback, respectively. John Quill switches from flanker to No. 8.

The Glendale Raptors are an experienced side of veterans while integrating some very talented younger players. A seasoned group of reserves is also ready to take the pitch when needed.

NYAC Rugby: 1 Kirkland Hamilton 2 Anthony Parry 3 Brian McKellar 4 Gethin Davies 5 Nate Brakeley (C) 6 Nick Wooley 7 James Denise 8 Ross Deacon 9 Marcus Walsh 10 Alex Hodgkinson 11 Greg Voigt 12 Quentin Pradere 13 Seamus Kelly 14 Joe Kelly 15 David Haugh 16 John Santiago 17 Adam Zeich 18 Jack Smith 19 Pat Coleman 20 Ryan McTiernan 21 Stu Williamson 22 David Snead 23 Charles Guiraud (Reserves 16-23 are subject to change following the B side match)

Glendale Raptors: 1 Luke White 2 Zach Fenoglio 3 Nick Kwasniewski 4 Grigor Kerdikoshvili 5 Ben Landry 6 Devin Vaughter 7 Brain Wanless 8 John Quill 9 Shaun Davies 10 Will Magie 11 John Ryberg 12 Bryce Campbell 13 Mika Kruse 14 Harley Davidson 15 Nick Johnson 16 James DelBozque 17 Blake Rogers 18 Kelepi Fifita 19 Connor Cook 20 Casey Rock 21 Jake Christmann 22 Ata Malifa 23 Max Slater + Head Coach David Williams

Utah Warriors vs. Glendale Raptors Recap – March 30, 2018

The Utah Warriors jumped out to an early 5-0 lead following a penalty on John Quill and a linebreak by Josh Whippy with offloads to Jared Whippy and Joe Nicholls, with the later grounding the ball for a try.

The Glendale Raptors then applied sustained pressure on the Warriors for the next five minutes as Shaun Davies was held up in-goal. Angus Maclellan was also sent to the bin with a front row substitution of Maika Hafoka entering in the 5th minute. A few minutes later, Ara Elkington also left the match after an injury and was replaced by his brother Win.

The Glendale Raptors took the lead in the 18th minute as Mika Kruse evaded tacklers down the wide channel and dotted down with Will Magie converted to lead 7-5.

Discipline issues continued to impact the first half, as Kory Olsen was sent to the bin. Glendale capitalized on the Utah Warriors being down a man, with Harley Davidson finding a gap, offloading to Max De Achaval to John Ryberg for a try. Magie again converted extending the lead to 14-5.

The Utah Warriors had an opportunity to narrow the lead after a Casey Rock penalty for not rolling away, but Jared Whippy’s kick was wide left. Shortly later, Jackson Kaka also was replaced by Lance Williams at flanker.

The Glendale Raptors added a third try before the break by John Quill, with Magie extending the lead to 21-5. The Utah Warriors came right back with Lance Williams making an impact with a try. Jared Whippy continued his kicking woes with a difficult miss and the Utah Warriors were within striking distance of the Raptors at 21-10.

In the second half, De Achaval went blind off the breakdown for a try and after Magie’s conversion, the score was 28-10. De Achaval would add another try and Magie continued to be perfect on the night with his foot, increasing the lead to 35-10.

The Utah Warriors then struck back with a Josh Anderson try in the corner to narrow the lead to 35-15. Will Magie would add a try and the 6th conversion to make the final, 42-15 in favor of the Glendale Raptors.

With the win, the Glendale Raptors moved their pre-season record to 2-0 and travel to New York Athletic Club on Saturday, April 7 for a 3 pm ET match at Travers Island. NYAC was in the USA Rugby Division 1 Club Finals last year and played the Houston SaberCats earlier this year, losing by a point. Sixteen members of the NYAC team are playing for Rugby United New York, with 12 players having had a starting role.