Mystics Take Northeast Title in a Nailbiter

RANDALLS ISLAND, NY – The final day of the NRU Championship Series pitted Mystic River against perennial rivals, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. The Mystics sought their second straight NRU title, while the ‘Hounds wanted revenge for their regular season loss to the Mystics and to make a statement in their return to D1.

In a back and forth slugfest riddled with penalties by both clubs, the ‘Hounds struck first, but three penalties slotted by Colin O’Brien kept the Mystics on the scoreboard, trailing by nine at the half. The second half opened with Mystics Sean Burgess, Carrick Pell and Chris Tofte each bagging a try to take the lead, but the ‘Hounds would eventually tie the game 31-31 at the final whistle on a questionable high tackle call.

With twenty minutes of overtime played, the Wolfhounds conceded their final penalty. With no time remaining, O’Brien once again stepped to the line, slotting the ball through the posts and making the Mystics #1 in the Northeast.

Mystic River Too Much for New York

RugbyMag.com
By Ed Hagerty

RANDALLS ISLAND, NY – A massive second half come-back gave Mystic River a 32-17 win over the New York Rugby Club. New York went into halftime with 17-10 lead but visiting Mystic River, scored 22 unanswered, second half points to defeat NY 32-17.

Mystic advances to Sunday’s Northeast Division I Club Final where they will face the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. The Wolfhounds defeated Long Island in their semifinal.
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Article originally posted at RugbyMag.com, but is no longer available.

2010 NERFU Div 1 Final Standings

Team P W L D PF PA PD BP Points
Boston RFC [x] 6 6 0 0 341 60 281 4 29
Mystic River (1) 6 5 1 0 275 108 167 5 25
Wolfhounds (2) 6 4 2 0 182 104 78 5 21
White Plains (3) 6 3 3 0 104 173 69 1 13
New Haven (4) 6 2 4 0 139 183 -44 3 11
Amoskeag 6 1 5 0 69 303 -234 1 5
South Shore 6 0 6 0 77 256 -179 2 2

(x) = Clinched Playoff Spot
[x] = Ineligible for playoffs
For official up-to-date standings visit www.nerfu.org.

Coaching Change Comes at Critical Time

RugbyMag.com
By Alex Goff

So Mystic River has a new coach and gets into the playoffs – well done for them. But hold on one moment; John Banarhall joined Mystic River in the week before Halloween … by that point the Mystics had already secured said playoff spot.

They had done so, however, unclear about their direction as players and as a team. Banarhall, who left Amoskeag on fairly good terms and remains on the club’s Board, has brought in structure.
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This article originally appeared on RugbyMag.com, but is no longer available.