Rugby United New York Races Past Old Glory

Rugby United New York jumped to a 24-0 lead in the first 20 minutes and emerged with a 46-10 win over Old Glory DC on Sunday, May 30 at Segra Field in Leesburg, VA. The match was broadcast on NBS Sports Washington, MSG, and streamed on The Rugby Network.

Match Recap

Rugby United New York fired out of the blocks to a quick try by captain Dylan Fawsitt from a maul to open the scoring in the third minute. Then after breaks by Ben Foden and Quinn Ngawati, Fa’asiu Fuatai drew in defenders down the left wide channel and executed a pop pass to Apensia Cakaubulavu for a try under the posts to lead 12-0 after Chris Mattina added the extras.

Fasi and Apensia hooked up again before offloading to Nate Brakeley for New York’s third try with the conversion bouncing off the posts.

Ben Foden added a bonus point fourth try just prior to the hydration break with Mattina converting for a 24-0 lead.

A New York penalty launched an attack by Old Glory with Steven Longwell getting the hosts on board with a try to cut the lead to 24-5.

The restart was gathered by DC and Kara Pryor met Josh Brown with a crunching no-wrap tackle. Tempers flared and Pryor was sent to the bin. Tuning into The Rugby Network, it was also noticed that Old Glory managed to escape the bin after a couple of punches were thrown.

Within a minute of the Pryor yellow card, Harry Bennett joined him for tripping Robertson. New York would need to play two men down for the remainder of the half.

Old Glory took advantage of the numbers issue moving the ball wide with Renata Roberts-TeNana finishing with a try in the corner, 10-24.

Despite being down two players, Chris Mattina counter-attacked after a Danny Tusitala kick, breaking a couple of tackles and his offload attempt to Apensia Cakaubalavu was knocked on saving a certain try.

A scrum penalty resulting from Longwell not driving straight, had Chris Mattina working the clock with a penalty goal to push the lead to 27-10 in the 37th minute.

In the final minute, after a break by Dubalas, Tevita Naqali carried the ball into in-goal with Ben Foden dislodging it on the tackle. That ended the half and was costly for getting Old Glory’ back in the match.

Second Half

With Old Glory attacking within meters of in-goal, Harry Bennett intercepted a pass and booted the ball deep with players chasing. Old Glory cleared into touch and New York executed a quick lineout. Kara Pryor evaded a couple of defenders and grounded for a try with Mattina converting to lead 34-10.

Old Glory had some attacking opportunities pushing the ball wide to Roberts-TeNana and to Mike Dubalas, however, the RUNY defense continued to be stellar on the day.

New York would add a try by Will Leonard, converted by Mattina, 10-41 in the 71st minute. Cory Daniel dotted down soon after for Old Glory, however, a prior knock-on nullified his effort.

In the final minute, Andy Ellis took the ball near the New York in-goal, and his linebreak set up an offload to Pryor around midfield. Pryor found Chris Mattina in space and the wing motored down the right wide channel to a try in the corner to secure a 46-10 win.

Man of the Match honors went to Ben Foden.

Photo: David Hughes

With the loss, Old Glory’s record drops to 4-5-1 and is in fifth place in the MLR Eastern Conference with 24 points, one point behind New England. DC will travel to face the Free Jacks on June 6 at Union Point Stadium.

Rugby United New York’s record improved to 7-3, and they are in second place with 34 points to Rugby ATL’s same record and 35 points. New York has a bye week and then will face ATL at home on June 13. Their previous meeting was won by New York.