West Hartford U 19 Rugby Plays Two – Wins One, Ties The Second

On Sunday, May 27, the West Hartford Black Hearts traveled to Madison, CT, to participate in the 5th Annual Connecticut High School Rugby Championship Tournament. 

Fourteen boys teams, some with both A and B sides, along with three girls teams were at the event. It was a glorious day with three rugby pitches being used full time for games beginning at 9 a.m. West Hartford, being a new club, was playing in the Division 3 Section. 

West Hartford opened up with a 9 a.m. game versus Darien B's, a solid club that has been in existence for four years. The game began with Darien kicking to the Black Hearts who immediately mishandled the ball in their own try zone.  A scrum ensued and West Hartford gained possession. 

Hard running led to slippery passes and West Hartford moved the ball into Darien side of the field. A breakdown occurred and Flanker Jason Gilbert picked up the ball and went around the side to dot it down in the corner. The conversion was low and short putting The Black Hearts up 5 to 0. 

The remaining time in the first half was full of back and forth play by both sides. Solid running and tackling by Gilbert, and Centers Corey Dale and Nick Floyd.  Shifty running by Winger Janusz Podlasek (we'll call him JP from now on), and low hard running by twin Props Liban Abdi and Rob Sechtman made a difference. Phil Goulet, playing at Fullback for the first time, was solid at catching and covering. 

The first half ended with West Hartford ahead by a 5 to 0 score.  

The second half began with West Hartford kicking off to Darien who immediately went out to the Wing with some quick ball movement, a little chip kick back over the inside found it's way to Winger Gabriel Nager who lofted a perfect counter kick, chased the ball down and secured possession for The Black Hearts. Eventually a set scrum ensued leading to an Eight Man pick up and Alec Stott put the ball down under the posts for his fourth try of the year. Nick Floyd converted for the additional 2 points and West Hartford was up 12 to 0. 

On the re-start the ball eventually found its way back to the Darien Wing who put a shifty move on West Hartford only to be stopped by a try saving tackle by JP. Darien found its way into the corner of the try zone off of a 5 meter scrum, tough angle for the conversion missing the attempt and Darien was on the board West Hartford 12–Darien 5. 

On the restart West Hartford put the ball long trying to get Darien to make a mistake, but it wasn't to be.  Play ensued in the middle of the pitch with both teams providing hard runs and smart kicks to touch. Corey Dale put in a long run up the side, ball going to touch and on the line out Hooker Matt Costello stole the Darien put in. As West Hartford spun ball out to their backs Darien put up a quick defensive counter regaining the ball. However, a mistake led to a Black Heart scrum close to Darien's try zone. 

West Hartford smelled blood, a Jason Gilbert run leading to another scrum where Eight Alec Stott again picked up to score in the corner. Conversion just missed and the whistle blew for a 17-5 West Hartford victory. 

The thing about tournaments is that while you need to rest between games, sometimes you are forced to rest too much. 

West Hartford had a four hour wait until their final game of the day. While that provided plenty of opportunity to watch other teams and gain more rugby knowledge, it was a long hot wait. The boys stayed hydrated and used their sun block!

At 2:30 p.m., West Hartford took the field to play a tough Cheshire B side – a club in existence for six years. This was an experienced side and the Black Hearts knew from the opening whistle they would be in for a chippy game. 

The ball moved up and down the pitch with a lot of forward rucking and mauling from both sides. A nice move by Fly Half Jared Gordon brought the ball out to the side of the pitch through the West Hartford backline. Flanker Jack Costello had a blinder of a game sniffing loose ball all afternoon. Cheshire regained possession out to their Wing who found a lane and angled back inside to put the ball down under the posts, conversion good score: Cheshire 7 – West Hartford 0 and that is where the half ended. 

The Black Hearts were not shaken up; they knew they were in the game, however, they also knew they needed to make a statement right at the beginning of the second stanza. 

Unfortunately West Hartford gave up possession immediately to the Cheshire Center who took the ball into the try zone. Fortunately Cheshire over ran the try zone, no score, and the ball came back out for the re-start. West Hartford knew it dodged a bullet!  

West Hartford found itself in a set scrum, leading to an Eight Man pick up by Stott who dumped the ball inside to Andy Eichar putting a hard run inside the Cheshire Twenty Two. The ball slowly worked its way through the forwards through solid rucking and eventually Scrum Half Ethan Cannon tapped it down for a score in the far corner. Nick Floyd hit the almost impossible angle for the conversion and the score was tied 7 to 7 with not much time to go. 

The re-start kick to West Hartford was gathered in by Eric Geuser who took it up the side line putting a nice pop pass over to Myles Gibbons who took the ball up the side into touch.

The clock was ticking. Cheshire put a beautiful line out ball to their big Second Rows and they rumbled up field. 

The clock was ticking and Cheshire was clicking.  

West Hartford found defensive second wind. The Cheshire Center put the ball up in the air looking to get it behind the West Hartford back line however it was just a little too far and JP, who moved over to Fullback for the second half, put a counter kick to touch and the game ended 7 to 7 against a very game Cheshire side.

West Hartford next plays on Tuesday, June 5, at Sterling Field on Flatbush Avenue. It will be a 6 p.m. kickoff and a re-match against Simsbury B's. This will be the final match of the season for The Black Hearts and their only home game.