The Warpigs had a 1pm kickoff on a pretty hot summer afternoon yesterday. Low numbers with exactly 15 but Coaches Michael Mackayy, Lurch and captain Jamie Everett got our boys ready.
Being a preseason game both teams agreed on 3 20 minute periods.
The first period was a stalemate. Good defensive playing by both sides. WPRFC had excellent ball retention and rucking was in peak form. The backs were a bit stagnant but were able to use their athleticism to create meters. Some 50/50 balls hurt us but strong defense and tackles prevented any opposition scores
The second period a few changes were made. Sayyed Muhammad went at 10 to create a different dynamic. About 7 minutes he was able to suck the inside and fly half in and dish it to Arber Cobaj who made a 40 meter gain. After a penalty and some luck the Warpigs got a lineout and had a successful Maul to about the 1 meter where scrum half Charlie J Clark dummied and scored. Conversion missed by Steve Arango.
Warpigs had a large majority of the possession in the second half and that would pay dividends going as Jason Libertelli was able to punch the second score in right near the posts. conversion made by Steve Arango. Score at the end of 2 periods was 12-0
In the third period a great kickoff led by an even better hit by Jay Libertelli created a knock on to give a scrum to WPRFC. 5 perfectly executed phases later Charile Clark was able to dummy his way in for his 2nd try. Conversion missed by Steve Arango.
Fatigue settling in and a bit a too comfortable, the war pigs tackling got lost. A strong inside center was able to break his way in for Morris first score.17-5 now with the missed conversion from the sideline.
Again fatigue and some mis communication led to another big score for Morristown by the inside center. Score now 17-10 with the missed conversion.
In the end WPRFC regained their composure and were able to make some strong tackles against a desperate Morristown team. A great poach gave the Warpigs the penalty and they were able to kick it out to seal the game 17-10.
There was great play by all. Huge tackles by Matt Calton got him an honorable mention and there were some fantastic individual play by New Rochelle's own caleb and Jinesh Shaji.
Man of the match went to our #9 for his two cheeky scores. If only he could drink like he could play because the WPRFC lost the boat race due to his not so great chugging skills. Kudos to Matt Calton for making up the effort on the boat race.
D3 will be back at it again for their first regular season match against Danbury at Danbury CT 8/25. Let's look to have a good showing at practice this Tuesday and Thursday at White Plains High School at 9pm!
Cheers,
Steve Arango
VP Communications