A Rye rugby game is definitely a fun night out. However, the sport has no shortage of rules governing play, and as a result, rugby referees often appear to be the protagonists of the entire production.
With so many whistles, hand gestures, and stoppages of play, spectators who weren’t born in the U.K., Australia, South Africa, Ireland, or Samoa, can be heard mumbling to one another in the stands, “What was that? What the heck just happened?”
Of course, the players and coaches know exactly what’s going on. But when Chaminade broke through for the first score of the game – called “a try” – Friday at Nugent Stadium, the Garnets may have been questioning some things themselves.
The lead was short-lived, and the Flyers didn’t score again, as Rye rolled to a 22-5 victory to improve to 5-2 on the season.
In a well-played and tightly contested first half, the Garnets traded punches and turnovers with their Long Island opponents. Three minutes after Chaminade’s try, Rye answered with one of its own, scored by junior scrum half Harry Hillis. Junior teammate Jagger Fenton made the conversion, and Rye was on top 7-5.
Rye struck again on a try from speedy freshman Max Cabrera to extend the lead to 12-5 at the half.
“We’ve been working really hard these last few weeks in practice and I think that push showed tonight against a good Chaminade team,” said Rye captain Gavin Fitzpatrick. “We’re a little banged up right now and a bunch of our younger guys had to step up tonight and they did. Really proud of my teammates right now.”
Midway through the second half, Rye senior Hunter Gilles pushed across the line for Rye’s third try of the night. Five minutes later, Cabrera struck again for Rye’s fourth and final try.
With two regular-season games remaining, May 8 against Fordham Prep and May 16 against Rockaway, both at Nugent Stadium, first-year Rye coach AJ Thompson believes his team is in a pretty good spot.
“This is a tremendous group of kids I get to work with here, so I’ve really enjoyed every second of this season so far,” he said. “I’m not a big believer in moral victories, but our two losses against two good teams were games where we gave ourselves some great chances to win.”
One loss came to the Charlotte Tigers back in March at Gastonia, N.C., and the other was against Xavier, the top-ranked team in all of New York. Neither will keep the Garnets from pursuing their ultimate goal of playing in the state tournament at the end of this month.
“We’ve got some work to do next week,” Thompson said, “but we’ll definitely be ready for the postseason.”
