New London County Rugby Football Club

NERFU Cup Match Update

Match 1: NLC Vs. MIT Grad – Score NLC 0 MIT 5

Match 2: NLC Vs. Northshore – Score NLC 21 Northshore 5

Championship Match: NLC Vs. Wolfhounds – Score NLC 17 Wolfhounds 17, No score in 5 min sudden death,  Drop kicks NLC 2 Wolfhounds 1

It’s been a great start for NLC rugby this spring.

Here are the match reports from the first two matches:

            Lynn, MA- Even with inches of mud, rain pouring down at times, and an unknown river under the field that could have surfaced at any moment, the New London County Rugby Football Club dug deep and defeated the North Shore Rugby Football Club, 17-7, on Saturday. 

            The New London players took the muddy field Saturday knowing what each of them had to do to achieve victory.  With their mind set on tackling low, supporting each other in rucks, and focusing on moving the ball to their back line, New London found themselves in complete rhythm from the opening kickoff. 

            North Shore tested New London from the very beginning sending the opening kickoff deep down the field.  With the kick cleanly received by New London’s Fly-half, Tim Johnson, Johnson sent a blistering boot right back into North Shore’s half that bounced out of bounds.  With the line-out in North Shore’s favor, New London quickly showed the type of disciplined defense they were going to show, intercepting North Shore’s line-out.

            New London was quick to show North Shore how dedicated to the game they were as they sprinted to every ruck, and showed support on every play.  The momentum was clearly in New London’s favor, the only thing they couldn’t control was the slippery ball.

            “It was very sloppy out there,” said New London’s Captain and Flanker, Greg Smith.  “We were definitely in control, but sometimes the ball wasn’t.”

            New London stuck first when they received a penalty in their favor and decided to go for three points. Johnson took his time setting up the tee in the mud, and delivered a perfect kick between the uprights for the early lead, silencing a pumped up North Shore crowd.

                With the early lead, New London began to show true promise moving the ball up field, and with the mud it was only going to be a matter of time before New London delivered another score, and they did around the 18^th minute of play.   When a ball was knocked on by North Shore, New London had a scrum in their favor roughly 25 meters outside of the try zone.  When the ref located a small piece of grass to scrum on, New London fired up and ready to score, drove over North Shore giving New London’s loose forwards, Ken Laverty, and Doug Parulis some ample field to work with.  With a nice pass to Laverty from Parulis, Laverty did his best “Adrian Peterson” impression, rolling over North Shore’s defense into the try zone for the easy score.  With the converted kick by Johnson, New London showed North Shore why they are one of the most feared teams in the division.

            New London scored again later in the first half after Laverty made an “ESPY” like catch and drove into North Shore’s defensive line.  With New London’s forwards in quick pursuit, New London was able to ruck over North Shore, and deliver a pass out to their Wing, Brian Taylor, who dove into the try zone for the score.  With a long and very wide converted kick by Johnson, New London exited the half with a 17 point margin over North Shore. 

            New London entered the second half with the same mentality as the first, but couldn’t quite capture the scoring threat they had previous. Defensively New London pressured North Shore throughout the second half, especially on line-outs, where Parulis, and Chris Key intercepted, or disrupted nearly all of North Shore’s passes. 

            In the later part of the second half North Shore managed to score, but couldn’t catch up with New London in the end.  With the huge victory for New London, New London climbed to the top of the division.   New London hopes to close out the season with a victory next week against the Boston Irish Wolf Hounds, a team that also is on top of the division, and a team New London fights hard against every season. 

            Post game festivities were held at Molly’s Irish Pub in Lynn, Massachusetts, where New London’s scrum half, Liam Scott was named Man of the Match.

New London Captures Impressive Victory over MIT

            Waterford, CT- The New London County Rugby Football Club bolted out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated MIT, 47-12, on a classic October day.

            New London quickly showed MIT they were here to play as they slammed through MIT’s defense on a series of heart-pounding ferocious rugby play.  New London established field position after their Fly-Half, Tim Johnson, demonstrated pristine kicking accuracy off a penalty, giving New London unbelievable field position for a line-out.   When the line-out was received in New London’s favor, New London and their powerful backline quickly thrashed through MIT.  New London’s Inside Center, Eric Booth, saw an opening, and quickly darted through the try zone giving New London’s first score.  With the converted kick by Johnson, New London was on top by a score of 7-0.

            MIT never backed down, but after multiple opportunities hinting towards New London’s side of the field, MIT couldn’t break into any sort of scoring rhythm.  With every dropped pass, or missed timed ball by MIT, New London sent kick after kick deep into MIT’s zone, giving New London excellent field control much throughout the first half.  New London capitalized on their field control, and scored multiple tries, by Booth, Ken Laverty, Nick Anderson, and Louis Zubek.  At the end of the first half, New London was up 40-0.

            New London entered the second half with the same expectations of the first, but couldn’t match MIT’s revamped attitude. MIT scored twice in the second half on the notion that New London wasn’t spreading their defense wide as they did in the first.

            “We ended up watching the ball,” said New London’s Full Back, Richard Dickinson.  “We have to watch where they position their players when we’re on defense.  MIT is smart team, and read our overload, and we got burned.”

            Other than some slight defensive errors, New London showed great promise in this victory, and hope to obtain the same explosive scoring atmosphere as they face the North Shore Rugby Football club, who remain undefeated, next week in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Seacoast RFC 10 – New London County RFC 3

26 September 2009

By A J  Aitken

On a beautiful day in New Hampshire in the leafy surroundings of Sanderson Field NLCRFC took to the pitch against a very powerful Seacoast side. It was obvious from the outset that the second league match of the Fall season was going to provide a contest of two contrasting styles, the home team, powerfully built and relying in the main upon the big guns of their daunting pack whilst the visiting New London team looked to exploit their dynamic rucking and unleash a swashbuckling back line. In short this game saw the immovable object up against the unstoppable force.

The audible crunch at kick off set the tone for the rest of the match as two utterly committed sides tore at each other. In all honesty, it is difficult to put into words the sheer intensity of this game, the savage commitment to the tackle and at the break down was enough to leave all observers winching and shaking their heads in admiration. Owing to illness NLC’s regular scrum half, Liam Scott, was unavailable and so the novel solution of rotating Club Captain Greg Smith and the multi talented Doug Parulis between loose forward and scrum half had been settled upon with the hard tackling Smith in at half back during defensive set pieces and Parulis attempting to provide attacking link up play. As the first half unfolded the natural strengths of both sides were clear for all to see with big Chris Key providing a dominant force at the lineout whilst in the scrum, Seacoast’s advantage of at least 10-12 pounds per man was helping them to a powerfully controlled display. That is not to sell Seacoast short, they are clearly a well drilled and hard working side and their pack will prove a handful for anyone this season.

As both midfields struggled for fluency and attacks by either side were broken down with a series of bone crunching tackles (NLC’s barnstorming centre Eric Booth showing particular appetite for the fight) it became increasingly obvious that one slip might cost either side the game. Fly half Tim Johnson, turning in a display marked by his trademark fluency and control, calmly slotted home a drop goal from the edge of the twenty-two in the middle of the fourteenth minute as New London were hammering at the opposition defence. Thereafter the war of attrition raged on with both sides needing medical attention and at one point this picturesque corner of New England resembled a scene from the Somme as the wounded fell.

Half time came as a blessed relief to both sides with NLC still leading by the single score, a couple of penalty opportunities having gone begging on both sides. At the whistle Seacoast were quickly out of the traps and their juggernaut pack steamrollered deep into New London territory. Despite determined tackling (and with the very definite suspicion of ‘hands in’) the ball somehow made its way back on the Green and Blue side from an attacking ruck. A determined burst down the blind side punctured the valiant defence of the men from Connecticut and the home team were able to run in a score just wide of the left upright. Undaunted, New London hit back with charge after charge spearheaded by their dynamic back row with a Man of the Match Performance by Greg Smith (although to pick out one man from this hardworking unit is a little unfair on his marauding compatriots Stewart and Laverty). As possession and territory ebbed and flowed Seacoast struck a well judged drop goal to open a 7 point lead.  As the game rolled into the last 5 minutes with both sides gasping for air and Seacoast leading 10-3, New London threw everything they had at their opponents. After another bullocking run from the raging bull himself, Ken Laverty, the ball spun wide to Will Rothstein who pressed hard on the accelerator. A man with plenty of pace, Rothstein pinned back his ears and sprinted to the left corner, diving in to score in the last minute. Controversially, and heartbreakingly for NLC given their tremendous commitment, the score was not given as the referee believed the ball had not been grounded.

Although low on points this was a thoroughly absorbing contest which held the rapt attention of those watching on. At the final whistle a clearly relieved Seacoast supporter turned to your correspondent and said, “That was one hell of a match, you don’t see many games like that in D3!” to which the only reply was, “You do when you’re watching New London!”

New London County RFC Team sheet:

15.  R D Dickinson

14.  E Issler

13.  L Zubeck

12.  E Booth

11.  J Wittpenn (Rothstein 22)

10. T Johnson

9.   G Smith (Capt)

8.   N Stewart

7.   D Parulis

6.   K Laverty

5.   M Keltner

4.   C Key

3.   M Bailey

2.   T Greene (Doherty 58)

1.   W Hergott

Replacements

R Doherty

W Rothstein

C Lowe

P Mara

J Millard

N Smith

A J Aitken

New London Start the Season in Full Stride with a Victory Over The Harvard Business School

            Boston, MA- With not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature hovering around perfect, The New London County Rugby Football Club defeated The Harvard Business School, with an unprecedented 31-0 margin

            New London took the field only to find themselves slightly surprised when they found out they were playing on an artificial turf field with no goal posts, and more painted lines than a brand new parking lot. Needless to say, New London County, a team with a winning and professional history took the field and got right into their playmaking ability. 

            Within the first few minutes, New London quickly made their presences known.  With huge hits, and powerful runs, New London seemed to attack from all angles, but couldn’t find the try zone.

            Halfway through the first half, New London found themselves protecting their side of the field, but with a missed opportunity for Harvard, New London’s Fly Half, Tim Johnson, delivered a punishing kick out of bounds, but deep into Harvard’s half of the field.  When both teams went up for the lineout, New London’s Chris Key was able to steal the ball from Harvard’s line, giving New London control of the ball, and in a prime area for a real legitimate scoring threat.   With New London’s back line completely in sync, New London’s Inside Center, Eric Booth, punched through three Harvard defenders, and touched the ball down for their first score of the game.  With the converted kick by Johnson, New London was on top with a 7-0 margin.

            After the first try, New London captured the momentum and never lost it.  When they received the kick after their first score, New London got right back into Harvard’s try area.  New London was unfortunately called on a forward pass which gave a Harvard a scrum in their favor.   With New London’s strong and fast scrum fully charged, New London managed to steal the scrum. New London’s Flanker, Ken Laverty, received the ball on the turnover and charged towards the try zone. Slamming through a pair of unfortunate Harvard players, Laverty put the ball down for the score giving New London another five points.

            New London’s two scores midway through the first half seemed to become the popular theme of the game.  New London’s smash mouth style of play started to become too much for Harvard, and with the ball continuously in their possession, Harvard had very little time, and patience, to setup any legitimate scoring threats. 

            New London scored near the end of the half, when their Eight-Man, Nate Stewart, wrapped around the end of the scrum on a pickup and sprinted his way into the try zone.  New London ended the half with a seventeen point advantage. 

            At the start of the second half, it was apparent that New London’s fitness and overall athleticism was going to keep them in the front running for the victory in this game.  New London’s ability to play the ball throughout their whole back line, and their ability to stay focused on their scrums and rucks, gave them a relatively easy path marching up the field to get into a scoring rhythm.  With an off -sides call going against Harvard, New London’s Scrum-Half, Liam Scott, saw an easy opportunity to Superman dive his way into the try zone.  With the score, and the converted kick by Johnson, New London was now leading by a score of 24-0.

            New London’s final score came from their Outside Center, Louis Zubek, who broke a tackle at the half line, and then did his best Usain Bolt impression, beating a handful of Harvard defenders to the try zone.  With the converted kick by Johnson, New London was ahead 31-0. 

            The game was called 10 minutes early due to an injury to one of the Harvard players.  The player had to taken off the field by an ambulance, but according to confirmed reports from other Harvard players, the injured player appeared to be a little dazed, but overall fine.

            Postgame festivities were enjoyed at Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square, where New London’s Inside Center, Eric Booth, was named “Man of the Match.”  New London continues their season this weekend, when they face Seacoast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.