USRN

In what was RUNY’s just second home game at MCU Park, the conditions could not have been better for a game of rugby and the backdrop of Coney Island beach set the scene for a carnival type atmosphere at MCU. RUNY laid the foundations in the first half in what was a solid performance and one in which their forward pack were the stars.

It was Glendale who started out the brightest with an intense 5 minutes, going through multiple phases and probing at the RUNY defence however
a great tackle by captain Mike Petri forced a turnover and this seemed to shift the momentum in RUNY’s favour and on the 8th minute in a sweeping move Mike St. Claire did extremely well to finish off the score.

Glendale hit back on the 17th minute through Dylan Taikato-Simpson who broke through the RUNY defence to run in from some distance out to level up the scores at 7 a piece.

The RUNY pack have been particularly dangerous from lineouts this season and on the 21st minute this proved to be the case once again as they drove from a lineout and over the line in a well organised drive. James Denise was the man to come up holding the ball.

RUNY were pretty comfortable in controlling the game in the first half and dealt with Glendale’s scrum which has been very strong all season. On the 28th minute, RUNY scored another try as a result of hard work by their forward pack. Once again, they gathered from the lineout and drove over with Dylan Fawsitt scoring on this occasion.

Glendale were not as accurate as they have been in previous games and right before half time they had an opportunity to get some more points on the board through a period of sustained pressure being camped on the RUNY 5 metre line but a knock on spurned this.

The resulting scrum sent Luke Hume sprinting up the right wing and when his chip was not gathered by the Glendale defence, he slotted Mark O’Keefe in for his first try of the game.

Second Half

Similar to the start of the first half, Glendale were out of the blocks quickly in the second half. Scrum half Shaun Davis carved through the RUNY defence to touch down under the posts making it a double score game at 24-12 to RUNY.

On the 52nd minute Mark O’Keefe grabbed his second try of the afternoon running a great line after RUNY were camped on the Glendale 5 metre line after a terrific initial break from the explosive Mike St. Claire leaving the scoreline at 31-12 to RUNY.

Glendale made some substitutions around the 60th minute mark and it paid dividends. Glendale did have a resurgence and on the 65th minute substitute Robbie Petzer broke through the RUNY defence to touch down to bring it within a two score game with 25 minutes to go.

The Glendale comeback however was not to be and RUNY saw out the game at 31-19. RUNY will have cause for concerned as in form winger Conor Wallace-Simms pulled up towards the end of the game with what looked to be a hamstring injury. RUNY will be hoping it is not serious as Wallace-Simms has been a key try scorer for RUNY so far.