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Philadelphia Whitmarsh 11 - Old Blue 11 Location: Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA Wet, muddy conditions made for a sloppy start to the 2001 Rugby Super League season Saturday as the Philadelphia-Whitemarsh and Old Blue (NY) rugby football clubs slugged out an 11-11 tie at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park. Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, representing the Delaware Valley in this country’s premier rugby league, was paced by flyhalf Vaughn Crowe’s six points on two penalty goals and a breakaway try from rookie fullback Don Foy. After a sloppy first half, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh led 3-0 on one penalty goal by Crowe, the club vice-captain. The score could easily have been 7-3 in favor of Old Blue if not for the dogged defensive play of rookie flanker Michiel "M.C" Laubscher, who tracked down a breakaway Old Blue back in the 20th minute and pulled him down just short of the try line. Then, as the Old Blue player tried at a second effort to reach the ball across the line, Foy swooped in and knocked the ball out of his hands, ensuring that P-W would take the lead into halftime. Six minutes into the second half, Old Blue – the two-time Rugby Super League Eastern Division champion – kicked a penalty goal of its own to tie the match at 3-3. The two teams exchanged penalty goals to bring the score to 6-6 in the 58th minute. The home side’s brightest moment on the day came in the 65th minute, when, on a broken play, Crowe reversed field for a break, then passed off to bursting winger Joe Cassidy. The Conestoga High School graduate and Shippensburg University All-American made a long break that sucked in the Old Blue defense. That opened up the field for P-W to spin the ball wide to Foy, who took the ball 35 meters out and scored in the corner. Philadelphia-Whitemarsh’s 11-6 lead lasted until the 76th minute, when Old Blue scored a try of its own, deadlocking the game at 11-11. Hooker Brian Dunbar, a physical education teacher at the Ellwyn Institute in Media, Pa., was named Philadelphia-Whitemarsh’s Tetley’s English Ale Man-of-the-Match for his outstanding tackling on the day and the retrieval of one particularly impressive high ball. And in a tribute to the club's recent youth movement, five P-W players made their Super League debuts Saturday: Laubscher, Foy, Cassidy, scrumhalf Kris Johnson, and winger Joe "Doc" Eichinger. P-W's first side travels to Atlanta to play 2000 Rugby Super League champion Life University on Saturday. The team returns home to Conshohocken on March 31 to play Washington (D.C) in A.A. Garthwaite Stadium. Philadelphia-Whitemarsh Super League Roster v. Old Blue 1 Dair DiRemiggio Substitutions: Scott Palena, flanker; Steve Mattia, center Michael Badger, Club Scribe |
