Both the men and women sides of the Monmouth Rugby Club have enjoyed healthy victories in their first two matches of the season.
On the 17th of September, the women took on their instate rival, the Morris Women Rugby club at Thompson Park. They were ble to jump out to an early lead, and though Morris kept pushing and fighting, the home Renegades were able to stave off a late burst of points and late-game ball control, walking away with a 26 o 10 victory.
Try scorers were Kate Kelly, Colleen Erickson and Jennifer Jones.
On the same day, the mens side took the field against their new division 1 rival, the Village Lions, who made it to the National D2 Final Four this year. Monmouth men had lost to the Lions in the spring Four Leaf’s tournament at Randall’s Island, but came out swinging and were able to throw three tries down within the first twenty minutes, while retaining possession of the ball for the better part of the first half. Some choppy play led to a bin and the allowance of two quick scores by the Lions, after Monmouth had put a few more tries down to seal the bonus point. Match ended with the Monmouth RFC 34 to 6 victors.
Try scorers were James Barlow, Joe Lucarelli, Eric Daneman and Evan Fitzgerald.
On the 24th of September, both Monmouth RFC sides needed to travel, with the women heading to Hudson Valley and the en heading to the Division 1 champs of 2010, Long Island RFC.
The women abounded on a huge 72 to 0 victory over the HV home club in what was not a hotly contested match. Both sides were valiant and nothing got out of hand, as the Renegades compliment the way Hudson Valley’s WRFC kept hitting and fighting to the end.
The men took on a much changed Long Island club which jumped out to a 12 to 10 halftime lead, abound to some bounces and aggressive play from the much bigger pack. Monouth RFC’s men were able to capitalize on some great speed around the backs and turned tight play calling into a wave of converted scores and a penalty. The match ended, Monmouth RFC the victor, 36 to 5, putting them in sole position of first place in the division after two weeks of bonus point victories.
Try scorers were Eric Daneman, Rob Morello, Kevin Kustelski, Michael Byrnes and Evan Fitzgerald.
Men play White Plains RFC at home this weekend and the women travel to Brooklyn.
