March 4-5, 2006 Old Blue Training
Camp/Matches at West Point (by
SuperBlue Lew Fischbein, with additional
information supplied by Club Captain
Sean Horan, Jack McGonagle, Gary Heavner
and Paul Keeler)
Old Blue headed north up the
Palisades early this month rather than
south via Jet Blue to prepare for
national championship competition for
its Rugby Super League, Division I and
Division III sides. Organized by Club
president Gary Heavner and Division III
head coach, Club backrow coach and
former All-U.S. Marine Team head coach
Jack McGonagle, the weekend by all
accounts was a spectacular success as
Old Blue went undefeated on the field in
three 60-minute matches and were
terrific ambassadors for the Club off
the field, besides bonding with each
other anew. 50 Old Blue players joined
50 West Point ruggers on Saturday for a
morning of combined training in 30
degree weather (15 with the wind chill
factor), followed by Old Blue breaking
off for its own practice in the
afternoon and Army edging Penn State
31-28. Old Blue had five coaches
in attendance, including new head coach
Dick Laffan (who coached New South Wales
among other Australian teams), Division
I head coach Paul Keeler, McGonagle,
assistant backs coach John Adelaine
(from South Africa), and strength and
conditioning coach Dave MacPhail (from
Scotland) Also, new USA National 7s
coach and SuperBlue Al Caravelli (who
was the starting SH on Old Blue’s 1999
Final Four Team), was there scouting Old
Blue, West Point and Penn State for
players for his 7s program.
The Club rented a bus to transport
two dozen players who did not come up by
car (thank you, Tom Holmes, for bringing
people up). The bus left at 6:15 AM. At
6:17 AM Curtis Cunz sent an e-mail to
the player list saying the crack of dawn
didn’t agree with him. Fortunately,
Chris “I’ll never get tired of being a
beast!” Carey still has his head on
straight despite an article profiling
him in the April 2006 issue of Men’s
Fitness entitled “Ambition And The
Beast” (placed through his high school
coach), checked his Blackberry later in
the day and gave Curtis a ride up Sunday
morning. (The author of the article
omitted Chris’s mention of Old Blue.)
The black knights of West Point billeted
the black horde of Old Blue in military
barracks, and the Club returned the
favor by sponsoring a buffet dinner for
Army and Penn State Saturday evening.
There was more than enough food for all
such that even the Old Blue behemoth
front row players (no names mentioned)
said they were sated.
Sunday featured three matches in a
stadium adjacent to the river, with a
“field turf” pitch bereft of snow and a
shining sun somewhat subduing the chilly
day (40 degrees tops) . . . until the
wind picked up in the second half of the
last game of the day, the RSL Side v.
Army match.
Old Blue’s ranks should be
bolstered even more by the return from
injury of new Old Blue and Eagle SH Doug
Rowe (formerly of Denver Barbarians and
currently an NFL consultant in New
York), Randwick (Aus) reserve loosehead
Beau Jacobs and fellow new Aussie
recruit 6’5”, 240 lb. Northeast lock Tim
Little, formerly of Danbury RFC and born
in Tony Greenwich, Connecticut, along
with such veterans as last year’s
captain Josh Kaplan, newly married to a
girl from Beverly Hills (smart thinking
Josh!) and back from honeymoon; this
year’s Club captain Sean Horan
(recovering from hamstring); hooker/prop
Paul Silverman; backrow/lock Mike
Matkovic; lock Mark Bini; wing Aldo
Belluzzi; scrumhalf Kazo Seto; former
Eagle back Brian Gehraghty; Aussie
center/FB Brent Griffiths (away at
Carnavale in Rio); Junior Eagle FB Jon
Cronje, off this week to Dubai with the
USA Under 19’s; the center
pairing/Columbia FB DB duo of Justin
Logan (had to write law school papers)
and Jarrett Keys (broken hand in bar
fight); former Eagle hooker and
three-time Club captain Craig Levine;
and FH/C Chris Wilkens, reportedly
commuting from Phoenix!
Sunday March 5, 3:45 pm, USMA,
Highland Falls, NY Old Blue I 31 Army
I 7
Facing the United States Military
Academy, a\k\a Army, for the first time
in several decades, the Old Blue RSL
side would open up the season against
the No. 1 ranked collegiate team in the
country, according to
American Rugby
News (
see the following
link:
www.americanrugbynews.com/2006/02/23/college_rankings_byu_big_mover_while_navy_hits_the_skids). Meanwhile,
on Sat., defending National Collegiate
champ Cal-Berkeley smoked the visiting
defending RSL champion NYAC (and 4-OT
semifinal conquerors of Old Blue) 33-27.
Old Blue dominated the first half,
jumping out to a 19-0 lead on tries by
Nick Humphries, Ryan Rogers and Rogers
again, with two conversions by Brian
O’Mahoney. A late West Point 50 meter
intercept try flattered the collegians
as the referee ignored the USMA back’s
blatant offsides. New Old Blue and
former NYAC and U.S. Eagle scrumhalf
(15s and 7s) John McGeachy and former
Landsdowne (Irish first division) RFC
flyhalf O’Mahoney had the backs moving
well all day, and 6'7" fellow new Old
Blue and Eagle second row James Lik, a
former HM All-ACC tight end for Wake
Forest, and 6"4 Israeli Maccabiah
stalwart Yonathan Kaplan shone in the
lineouts. With Eagle hooker Mark Griffin
going out after 5 minutes with a rolled
ankle, the Old Blue front row (former
two-time Columbia FB capt. Chris Carey,
John Amato and part-time rugby leaguer
Joe Hughes) averaged 24 years old
for the bulk of the match. Backrows and
game captain Big Ben Sadgrove, Salesi
“Chas” Tondamoa, our 21-year-old
American Samoan from down under, and Old
Blue national championship 7s star Matt
Walier were forces in the loose. Current
all-time Columbia rushing leader and
three-year NFL vet John Reese and recent
all-time Brown rushing leader and NFL
Europe player Michael Malan exhibited
several long runs, power, pace and
defense on the wings, and can no longer
be said to be “rookies.” Rogers,
Humphries and FB Matt Pritchard were . .
. Rogers, Humphries and Pritchard. In
short, the Old Blue backs looked as good
as they’ve ever been in quite some time,
with Rogers the outstanding player on
the day.
Reese had a sparkling 40 meter try
converted by O’Mahoney early in the
second half. West Point then had the
territorial advantage for much of the
balance of the game, as their front row
and overall team fitness shone -- and
Old Blue’s fitness itself was remarkably
good for the first time out). Then the
tides shifted as Mike Malan, not to be
outdone by his St. Louis high school
teammate Reese, ripped off a 30 meter
try of his own to close out the
scoring. Old Blue then put up a five
minute goal line stand to keep the
Cadets off the scoreboard in the second
half. A very promising start to a season
hopefully to remember.
Carey Griffin (Amato 5 min, Knox 45
min.) Hughes
Kaplan Lik
Tonderoma Sadgrove Walier
McGeachy
Reese O’Mahoney Rogers Humphries Malan
Old Blue II 28 Army II 3
Tries: Seeman, Ellison, Kennedy,
Hiro. Penalty kicks (two): Levan
Shaorshadze. Conversion: Levan. Standouts:
Old Blue veteran FB and former Eagle Dan
Kennedy, new Frenchman Sebastian and
Kenyan Chris Otundo in the backs and
flanker Aaron Ellison, 6'4" flanker Troy
Jacobson, and lock and former Columbia
Heavyweight wrestler Bart Seeman in the
forwards.
Hayden from NZ (Hoehmann) Amato
Gertzakov (Duncan-Callendar)
Seeman Lee
(Abrams, off reserve duty at Fort
Monmouth)
Ellison Jacobson Knox
Sarokhan
Hiro Levan Sebastian Liam the young SA
Cunz
Old Blue III 7 Army III 7
Old Blue dominated possession in a
sloppy game, leading 7-0 at half, and
was
unfortunate to only tie. Try and
Conversion: Levan. Standouts: Backs Liam
and Chris Otundo.
Vader from New Paltz Duncan-Callendar
Hoehmann (Gertzakov, Carey, Hughes)
Mayers
Scott
Thomas Furey Lee
Miller
Cunz Martz Otundo Liam Malan (Reese)
