On a picture perfect fall weekend, Met New York teams Old Blue, Bayonne and North Jersey swept to victory in all three Northeast Rugby Union's mens regional finals. 

NRU decided for the first time in 2009 to hold all its Mens Adult finals (in Divisions 1, 2 and 3) in the same location.  Met New York offered to host using new state of the art rugby-dedicated pitches on Randall's Island.  Teams converged from as far away as Buffalo, Monmouth NJ and Boston for the chance to go forward to USA Rugby's nationals.  In the first of Sunday's finals, Division 3's winner in Met New York North Jersey prevailed over New York State's champion Buffalo by 44 to 8.  In Division 2, Met New York's Bayonne beat New England's champion Middlesex by 28 to 14.  In a typically hotly contested Division 1 final, New York's Old Blue beat New England's Mystic by 33 to 15.

In Sunday's divisional consolation matches, D3's Boston Irish Wolfhounds bested North Shore by 42 to 27; D2's Montauk bested Monmouth by 38 to 34; and D1's New York RC bested New Haven by 12 to 5.  Starting a new tradition, and with the recommendation of the Rugby Referees Society, NRU awarded its new Sportsmanship Award to Middlesex coach Josh Smith.  Met New York president Toby Butterfield said "It was a pleasure to host so many great clubs and to see excellent rugby played here in New York.   Thanks to our sterling Host Committee, this weekend went off on time and without a hitch.  And I'm obviously thrilled that three Met NY clubs won this round."  Met New York's Host Committee was chaired by Bret Costain and included Patrick English, Chris Gunsten, Bill Callahan, Chris Page, Ted Perkins, Dr. Victor Lopez and many others without whom the event would not be possible.  NRU was represented by Lance Dickinson.  Professional quality action photographs by Jess Bunchaft are available for browsing and downloading at

http://brownhoundphotos.com/Sports/2009Rugby/NRU-Playoffs-November-2009.