UPDATE 3/15/07

2007 SPRING SEASON KICKED OFF

Practice has started for the spring season. Every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 5:30 at the Waterford Beach Park at the Eugene O'Neill Theater.

UPDATE 12/11/06

Basketball Night is Back Again

Tuesday 7pm Oxford Academy in the gym. Directions can be found at www.oxfordacademy.net

UPDATE

New London Powers Past A Tough MIT Team

Cambridge, MA- The New London County Rugby Club had one of their most impressive games in team history as they defeated MIT Graduate School, 19-12, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

            New London entered the game, knowing they had to come out with a victory if they wanted to keep their playoff chances alive, as well as their status in Division III, of the New England Rugby Football Union. 

            With only the bare minimum of players (15), New London started the first half with intensity and aggressiveness; two key items that have been missing in past weeks.   The second the ball left New London’s Tim Johnson’s foot, the team was out gunning for a win, and nothing less.

            It didn’t take long for New London to throw a score onto the books.  East Lyme native, and newcomer to the team, Louis Zubeck, received the ball from a fellow teammate, and delivered New London’s first score, after breaking through a handful tackles, and burning a few MIT defenders with long strides, and an uncanny focus to get the ball into the try zone.

            Unfortunately for New London, MIT wasn’t throwing in the towel.  With the momentum pendulum rocking back and forth, MIT saw an overload by New London, and scored, bringing MIT within two points.  With the converted kick, the game was tied.

            New London just needed a few seconds to question their defense, and with their heads up, they started where they left off.    This time, it only took a few passes, and a few hard fought scrums for New London to get back into MIT’s try zone.

            With New London feeding the ball to all sides of the field, Zubeck again found himself with the ball, and again found plenty room to maneuver himself in the zone.  With the converted kick by Tim Johnson, New London was holding on to a seven-point lead.

            “I just need one more for the hat trick,” Zubeck said, “but I’ll settle for a score from whom ever on our team as well.”

            Unselfish rugby was the exact mode New London played throughout the game.  MIT came out strong in the second half, replenishing most of their players with new legs, giving them the early advantage.  New London allowed a score, but not after a hard fought battle that seemed to last an eternity.  MIT missed the converted kick, giving New London a slight lead at 14-12.

            With less than a twenty minutes to play, it looked like New London was going to escape with a narrow margin, but New London still had tricks up their sleeve.

            With the forwards supporting the backs, New London marched down the field, with crisp passing, and a true sense of urgency, and was able to score another try.  Matt LaSota found the opening, and delivered his body into the MIT line, where he found himself in the try zone, as well as having one of the most impressive tries in club history. 

            When the clock ran out, New London was the victor, bringing their record to 2-3, and bringing them that much more closely to a post-season birth in the playoffs.  New London concludes their regular season play, when they face the Middlesex Barbarains on October 28, in Massachusetts.

UPDATE

New London Loses to Reigning Champions

Canton, MA- The New London County Rugby club couldn’t come back from a large first half deficit, as they lost to the Boston Irish Wolfhounds 43-7, at the Irish Cultural Center, in Canton, Massachusetts. 

            While New London was finding few key opportunities for scoring drives, the reigning New England Rugby Football Union champions found a scoring groove, as they put in three quick scores in the beginning of the half. 

            Even with the early score getting out of New London’s grasp, New London continued to play hard against a very tough team.  John Zane, a newcomer to New London, had a many open field tackles, and brought a focus that continues to grow with every game. 

            New London was able to match the Wolfhounds on many of the same fundamentals of the game: line-outs, scrums, and penalties, but couldn’t catch up to the Wolfhound’s level of transitioning from defense to offense in a single burst of speed.

            “Their a more experienced club,” player / coach Dave Carlson said in the closing discussion of the game, “we’re still very young, and in time we will be where they are.”

            Entering the second half, New London took the game as if it was a brand new one, with the score 0-0.  While playing with their heads up, and covering the field defensively and offensively much better than the first half, they found themselves gaining more positive ground, as well as moving the ball to more areas of the field. 

            New London County also found themselves supporting one another a lot more in the second half, allowing huge runs by Eric Booth, and Dan Kimball. 

            With New London continuing to tackle and ruck harder throughout much of the second half, it allowed scrum half Dan Kimball a few more options with flyhalf Tim Johnson to position the ball easier to the back line.  With the forwards and backs playing in a methodical unison of one another, Dave Carlson found himself able to touch the ball down for New London’s first score of the game.  With the converted kick by Johnson, New London County finished the match with a more favorable approach to the season.

            “We play tougher every week,” Johnson said, “in time we’ll be on the same level as they are.”

            New London County continues their season as they play MIT next week in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The New London County Rugby team is always looking for new players from all experiences to join in the new local tradition.  For more information, log onto the team’s website at www.nlrugby.org.

UPDATE   

New London Rugby, Off to an Up and Down Start

            After coming off arguably the best season they’ve had in the spring, (winning over half of the games they played) the New London County Rugby Club opened the fall season with two very impressive victories over the Springfield Rugby Club (36-20), and the North Shore Rugby club (26-19), both out of Massachusetts. 

            “We have a strong core of returning players, as well as new players that are learning the game very quickly,” said team captain, Tim Johnson. 

            New London didn’t see the same luck as they lost to the Harvard Business School, and the Seacoast Rugby Club in their past two games. 

            New London jumped to an early lead against Harvard, after Dan Kimball blew past Harvard’s line of defense into the try zone, early in the first half, but couldn’t find its way back into the try zone for the remainder of the game. 

            New London held onto a lead for much of the game, but ran out of gas in the final minutes as Harvard brought in two uncontested scores into New London’s defense, bringing the closing score to 19-7 in favor of Harvard.  

            “It hurts to lose a game when you are leading the whole time,” said player / coach Dave Carlson, “but Rugby is so fast paced, that the game is never truly done until the referee’s final whistle.”

            New London County hoped to bring back the winning edge going into their October 1 game against Seacoast, playing with a lot more intensity, as well as playing with a couple of new plays. 

            New London saw their new focus on the game work early on, as they won a handful of line-outs with both Greg Smith, and Doug Parulis being tossed into the mix. 

New London than set up an excellent scoring opportunity when Seacoast was called on a high tackle.  With New London set up in their new diamond penalty formation, Seacoast saw little time to counter defend, eventually leading to Kimball finding a quick hole into the try zone.  With the converted kick by Tim Johnson, New London had an early lead (7-0) to the much more experienced club in Seacoast. 

            Unfortunately, Seacoast came back scoring a trio of tries in the span of a few minutes, putting the score at 19-7.   Even with the momentum in Seacoast’s favor, New London continued to play with heart, tackling hard, and winning scrums against a much larger team. 

            After some very strong runs by Parulis, and Charlie Montalnano, New London again found themselves in striking distance of the try line.  With smart play, and continuously containing the ball, New London’s Ryan Williams scored in the closing minute of the first half.  With another converted kick by Johnson, New London exited the half only trailing Seacoast by five points. 

            The second half wasn’t as memorable as the first for New London.  With the unusual heat wave, many of New London players found themselves trying to catch up to the more experienced Seacoast squad. 

            With four more scores by Seacoast, New London couldn’t get back on the edge they had in the first half.   Seacoast finished with 41 points, to New London’s 19. 

            With the loss, New London is in a tight squeeze for playoff contention, but it’s very possible they could see an extended season. 

            “We have three more games left in the season,” said Carlson, “and their really is no reason why we can’t win all three.”

            New London is on the road for the next two weeks, but has their final home game of the season on October 28, at at Oswegatchie Elementary School in Waterford.

UPDATE 8/25/2006

FALL SEASON HAS STARTED. CHECK OUT THE PRACTICE PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION. ALL INTERESTED PLAYERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME OUT AND GIVE IT A TRY.

UPDATE 4/15/2006

New London County Continues Winning Ways Against North Shore

WATERFORD – The New London County rugby team improves to 3 – 0 for the first time in club history, as they defeated the North Shore rugby club (Boston, MA), 47-21, in a hard fought battle at Oswegatchie Elementary School in Waterford, CT. 

            New London struck first, when Eric Pray, split a pair of defender’s to find his way into the North Shore try-zone, early in the first half. 

            However, it wasn’t smooth sailing from the very beginning.  Both teams were engaged in a very physical game from the very start. 

            “There were late tackles everywhere,” recalled New London’s captain Tim Johnson after the game.  “Sometimes the referee will call it, and sometimes he won’t.” 

            New London had a near scare midway through the first half, when Nick Gentile collapsed to the ground after deflecting a punted ball off his face.  Luckily for Gentile and the team’s sake, he was okay, and just needed a quick moment to catch his breath.

            New London managed to score twice more in the first half, on runs by Greg Smith, and Dan Kimball, as well as allowing a try for North Shore putting the score at 21-7 at the half. 

            New London entered the second half hoping to put a larger lead on the scoreboard, but almost saw things change for the worst as North Shore scored very quickly in the second half.  With the momentum in North Shore’s favor, New London was forced to play very clean, and very defensive, hoping to change the level of play.

            With New London intercepting a handful of North Shore’s line-outs, as well as covering the field very strongly, New London again came into striking distance of the other team’s try zone. 

            New London had some great feeds from the scrum, bringing into account great runs from the backs. 

            Pray went on to score another two more tries in the game, giving him a hat trick for the day, as well as Player of the Match honors later awarded to him at the drink-up.  New London’s Smith bullied his way into the try zone for the second time, giving him two tries for the game.

            “It feels great to win,” said Nick Gentile, “It’s obvious we play better when we’re happy, and we’re happy when we win.” 

            Even though New London had a pretty high lead going into the closing minutes of the game, North Shore never let up for one instance.  The two teams have battled in the past, but the game was extra special for New London, for it was the first time New London has defeated North Shore.

            “We love playing you guys,” said Johnson speaking to North Shore at the award session of the drink-up.  “And we hope to play you in the finals of the Newport Tournament.” 

            The Newport Tournament being the real challenge for most rugby teams in the New England area will be held on the 20^th and the 21^st in Newport, Rhode Island.

            New London starts their away stretch of the schedule this coming weekend as they hope to continue their winning streak as they head off to the South Shore Tournament. 

UPDATE 4/3/2006

NEW LONDON COUNTY MAKES IT TWO IN A ROW WITH A 49-12 WIN OVER BERKSHIRE

WATERFORD- After a strong victory against Springfield in the last match, New London County continued to show that this season they came to play with a winning attitude, as they defeated Berkshire (Massachusetts) 49-12 at the Oswegatchie Elementary School.

            At the start of the game, both teams played to its best attributes:  Berkshire with their size, and New London with their relentless attacks at every part of the field.  By the end of the first half though, New London only had a slight lead over Berkshire, with the score at 7-5, from a hard-nosed run by Eric Pray, and a converted kick by Tim Johnson. 

            “The scoring will come, “ said coach Dave Carlson.

            The scoring indeed did come.  At the start of the second half, Berkshire was playing down a man, having sent one of their players to the “sin bin” or penalty box in the true sense, giving New London a one-person advantage.  Within seconds of the kickoff, New London made a couple of huge open field tackles, which gave excellent field advantage for New London.  After a huge hit by New London’s Greg Smith, Smith found a scoring opportunity, and delivered after driving into the try zone.  With the converted kick, New London was now ahead, 14-5.

            Berkshire, a team with a fighting spirit, didn’t allow an early try to effect their overall composure.  Instead they marched right into New London’s defense, formed a rolling maul, and scored within minutes of New London’s score, putting the early second have score at 14-12. 

            After the Berkshire try, New London had a chance to catch their breath, as well as put the idea in their mind that enough-is-enough.  With this mentality, New London used their athleticism, as well as their overall skill, and put on a scoring display that at times was quite amazing. 

            “We just went on a roll,” recalls Johnson.  “Everything was just coming together at the right times.”

            Everything was coming together for New London. Whether it was from a hard drive up the middle, or allowing the ball to travel to both the wings, New London looked nearly perfect on their offensive drives. 

            Two such drives saw the ball get to New London’s wing, Charlie Montalbano, who used his speed to score on two very long runs.  Another impressive performance from the game came from Johnson, who hit an astounding seven-for-seven converted kick, some of these coming from the far corners of the field.

             Another score came from New London’s James Fife, who broke a handful of tackles, to secure his spot in the try-zone.  Fife, a member of the club since the very beginning, will be leaving the club, having finished his service in the United States Coast Guard.    The club wishes Fife the best of luck, and hopes to see rugby remain part of his life. 

            After the game, both teams went to Stash’s Café in New London for the traditional drink-up.  New London continues their season with a home game against the Rhody Old Cocks, Saturday April 8, at Oswegatchie Elementary School in Waterford.

UPDATE 3/26/2006

NEW LONDON OPENS SEASON WITH WON OVER SPRINGFIELD

WATERFORD- Trying to put last fall’s somewhat disappointing season behind them, New London County took the field Saturday full of anxiety and heart, and defeated Springfield (Massachusettes) 27-5 at the Oswegatchie Elementary School.

            Led by captain Tim Johnson, New London came out strong at the sound of the referee’s whistle, tackling hard, and questioning themselves who would be the first person to put one in the try zone.  Unfortunately for New London, Springfield put the first points on the board.

            Trying to focus on the game being played instead of the early score, New London County found themselves in striking distance after a handful of scrums, and line-outs went in favor for New London.   When a ball became free from a hard fought scrum, scrum half Dan Kimball found a wide-open Johnson, who later shimmied a pass to Eric Booth who dove in the try zone for New London’s fist score of the season.  With a converted kick by Johnson, New London was up 7-5.

            With the momentum building up from the first score, as well as the growing fan support, New London continued to play with a high dosage of energy.  Within a few minutes from New London’s first score, New London had another terrific march up the field.  After a penalty was called against Springfield, New London’s Kimball snagged the ball, and slammed his way into the try zone after breaking a handful of tackles.  Shortly after New London’s second score, the referee blew his whistle signaling halftime. 

            After applying tape to some mild battle wounds and catching their breaths, New London came out just as strong as they did in the first half, and put three more unanswered scores on the board. 

            One of the scores came off a very long run by Jared McGrath.  McGrath received a crisp pass from Eric Pray, and then used a devastating stiff arm to put him range of the try zone. 

            “I had one guy to beat, and the stiff-arm was the way to do it,” recalls McGrath. 

            New London’s success on Saturday had a lot to do with the rigorous training they did in the off season, as well as practicing in early March, where the grounds and the temperature resembled that of an icy tundra. 

            One of the biggest changes in this season’s squad compared to the past years is the number of people coming out on a weekly basis. 

               “We went from showing up at a game with the minimum 15 guys, to actually rotating fresh bodies in and out to keep our guys at full speed, “ said New London’s coach, and former player Dave Carlson. 

            With the increase in numbers, which allows more realistic game scenarios in practice, New London could very well be on track to having one of their best seasons ever. 

            Another change to this year’s team is the newly added social membership.  For an amount of $30, one can enjoy all the aspects of the game, receive a tee shirt, and partake in all of the team’s social gatherings. 

            In addition to the social membership, New London County landed a sponsorship with Harpoon Brewery, which gives the team discounted beer, as well as other items including tee shirts and others of the sort. 

            With the growing team, New London is always trying to put their name out and about.  In recent months, New London County has marched in the St. Patrick’s day parade in Mystic, partook in the Penguin Plunge with the entrance fee going to the Special Olympics, and has done some work with Habitat for Humanity in Middletown. 

            After Saturday’s game, New London went to Stash’s Café in New London for the traditional drink-up with Springfield.  New London continues it’s season with a home game next week against Berkshire at 1:00 at Oswegatchie Elementary School.    New London is always looking for new players at all levels and experience.  Those that are interested should look at the team’s website at www.nlrugby.org for more information. 

UPDATE 1/25/2006

Buy your rugby gear from Rugby Imports or Balls Out Rugby and earn the club cash back…….Just enter CT104 for rugby imports and enter rugby06 for balls out rugby when it asks for the promotional code during check out.

UPDATE 1/6/2006

It’s that time of year to break out the swimming trunks and hop in to freezing New England Ocean to support the Special Olympic's by participating in the annual Penguin Plunge. Click the link to sign-up and we’ll see you there. Don’t be a skirt you play rugby for christ sake….. Jump in.

http://soct.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=PPHomepage

 If your going to be playing this year you have to sign yourself up with USA rugby. So click the link, pay the money, and get on the roster.

https://register.usarugby.org/rugby/DesktopDefault.aspx

UPDATE 12/5/2005

Northeast Rugby Union Select Side wins ITT B side tier.

New London’s made 2 conversion kicks as the Northeast Rugby Union cruised to the ITT title in Florida last week.

 UPDATE 11/23/2005

The New London Rugby Club would like to congratulate Tim Johnson on being selected to the Northeast Rugby Union Select Side. Tim will be traveling to Florida to participate in the USA Men's All-Star 15's in December. The NLCRFC wishes Tim the best of luck!!!!!