West Hartford U-19 Rugby Takes On Hartford and New London U-19 Rugby

On a beautiful Saturday built for rugby, the West Hartford Black Hearts U-19 Rugby team traveled across the river to Shea Park in East Hartford where the Hartford Wanderers Men's Club hosted Youth Rugby on the morning of May 12.

A round robin tourney was organized for three youth teams with a majority of players new to the game.

West Hartford opened the event kicking off to Hartford. The first half saw Hartford out to a 19–0 lead through three tries, two converted. After gathering together as a team during the break, West Hartford received the re-start kick off, taken by Corey Dale who scrambled up the side lines for a nice run to surprise the Hartford club. Unfortunately, as was typical of the day, Hartford eventually got the ball back.

When Hartford has the ball it is wide open rugby! They spin out to their backs and they're off to the races. In the second half Hartford put two more tries across, converting one: 31 to 0.

West Hartford was not done, however. Opportunity came the Black Hearts' way through solid rucking and mauling in the final minutes of play. Nice support from Patrick Keegan and Liban Abdi from a Ruben Abeyta-Mata run helped move the ball into the Hartford half. A penalty run by Rob Schectman helped move the ball closer to the 22 meter line. A scrum ensued and Alec Stott picked up with an 8 man pick and dotted down in the corner. The conversion was just wide from a very tough angle.

Final Score Hartford 31, West Hartford 5.

While the forward play was fairly even, Hartford's back line was just a bit more athletic. They received the ball at pace, found a lane and went through it quickly, or were speedy enough to get to the wing and turn up field. The Hartford and West Hartford U–19 clubs will both be a strong foundation for rugby growth in the Greater Hartford area – good for the future of the game!

Shortly after they played Hartford, West Hartford needed to get back on the pitch to take on New London U–19. New London is in its second year as a team and came to this event with mostly new players. West Hartford received the starting kick and play was confined mostly to the middle of the pitch by both teams.

Good solid forward play with heads up running by both back lines. When the ball went to touch (out of bounds) the line outs to re-start play were well contested by both teams. Eventually New London worked the ball off the side and put a try over in the corner, conversion short:

New London 5, West Hartford 0 and the half time whistle blew.

West Hartford kicked off and similar style of play started up for both teams – powerful forwards, win ball, and spin the ball out to the backs. The ball went up and down the field with neither team gaining strong advantage. New London got a break and found a nice pass to score under the posts, hitting the conversion at the final whistle for a 12 – 0 win.

Leadership for West Hartford was supplied by Ethan Cannon at Scrum Half and Jared Gordon at Fly Half. The Costello Brothers – Matt and Jack played well, as did Myles Gibbons. Alec Stott was a wrecking ball all morning in both games. Gabriel Nager and Philip Goulet also stepped up in the West Hartford back line.

In the final game Hartford beat New London 14 to 12 in a close game. The Hartford Wanderers hosted all three U–19 clubs cooking up dogs and burgers, with chips and Gatorade at the post match picnic. The Wanderers are a class club and their support of Youth Rugby should be recognized by the Greater Hartford Community.

West Hartford next travels to Madison on Memorial Day Sunday for the Connecticut High School Rugby Tournament where they will play in a Division 3 round robin event against 2 other new Connecticut U-19 Rugby teams.