June 12, 2013 at 2:45 p.m.
Taking rugby to New York and Beyond
An Under-14 all-star team competed in New York last week and did the island proud by making it to the quarter-finals of the New York City Cup.
They also lost a back-and-forth contest against undefeated New York City champs Pelham in the Junior Atlantic Cup.
Beyond Rugby organizer John Layfield said: “We were hoping to play New York’s All-stars and it didn’t quite work out the way we hoped so we played New York’s best team.
“The Pelham rugby team was undefeated. It came down to the last possession and we lost 20 to 12. Our kids did fantastic, but we easily could have won the game if the ball bounces different.
“Pelham are a very, very good team, which is what you would expect from being New York City champions.”
He added it was good the Bermuda lads had some competition.
“In Bermuda we only have one all-star team so we don’t have anybody for our all-stars to play.”
The players were selected not only for athletic skill, but for also how they were doing in school and how often they showed up to training.
Pelham’s team was made up of Under-15s and Layfield felt that if both sides had played at the same age level, whether that be at the 15 or 14 age group “we could have beat them”.
Layfield said the match came about through the assistance of Mark Griffin, who helped set up the Play Rugby USA programme but also helped with the foundation of Beyond Rugby.
Play Rugby USA has about 3,000 youth playing the sport and is founded along the same lines of Beyond Rugby.
Layfield said: “We’ve always had the idea where we would go over there or they would come over here and play some type of Atlantic Challenge Cup.”
The recent Saracens trip to Bermuda helped raise funds to allow the young boys to taste rugby in the Big Apple.
Layfield said: “It was through Gareth Nokes and Saracens money that sponsored us. It allowed us to take this trip. It was so kind of them to allow us to play another great rugby programme like this.”
The New York City Rugby Cup, a tournament which featured 72 teams. saw Bermuda’s squad made it to the final eight before being eliminated from the one-day tournament.
Layfield said: “We were beaten by last year’s champions so we did well in that. It was a flag tournament… if we had played tackle, we would have had a good shot at winning the tournament.”
Layfield added it was fantastic for the young middle school boys to meet others their own age in a friendly atmosphere of competition.
“It was a phenomenal event for our kids to go and play.”
The older Beyond Rugby players are scheduled to play in the Atlantic Cup on July 20. This will be for secondary school students who are part of Bermuda’s Beyond Rugby programme.
Layfield said: “College coaches are going to be there at the event to watch our kids. Some of them have scholarships to offer so we’re hoping to get our kids exposed to colleges and get them some more opportunities.”
There will also be two teams from the UK taking part in the Atlantic Cup. The fourth team will be a squad of New York City’s all-stars. Layfield said “Our kids will get all kinds of exposure, but we’re also going to form a rugby partnership. We had this in mind for some time but we couldn’t get it done last year.”
Last year was the start of the highly successful Beyond Rugby programme in Bermuda.
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