# Nyc And Old Gray Weekend



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

Weekend before last I finally had the opportunty to return to my alma mater for the traditional OG game. In all the years I've played rugby, I've never been available to get back to WP for this very special weekend. In the past, most often the distances have been too great for one weekend, but also deployments and other work commitments have interfered.

This year I had the time and the motivation, if not quite the fitness I would have liked to take on a group of graduating university students. I took a four day weekend and flew into NYC, making a long-awaited trip to 'ground zero'. It was very emotional, but I was disappointed that the views were poor due to tall fences and lack of vantage points. It sounds odd, but I wanted - no _needed_ - to see the void.



















I also had the chance to visits some old haunts before heading upriver to attend the first social of the weekend. Old Gray hosted a social at the First Class Club, giving us a chance to meet the young men we'd face on the field of friendly strife the next day. I had brought two 6N DVDs with me and Ireland v. England and England v. Scotland served as backdrops for the festivities.

At noon Saturday the Black v. Gold intrasquad scrimmage kicked off. It was a hotly contested match, with the wisdom of a good pack choice winning through.










Here's a photo of USMA's star flyhalf making a line break. Andy Locke was selected to attend the Eagle pool this year, competing against Mike Hercus (Llanelli) and other standoff standouts. Andy is a talented young man and I'm looking forward to seeing where his rugby career goes.










The Old Gray v. USMA '06 match followed. I won't keep you in suspense: once again a strong pack prevailed - along with craftiness and 'Old Guy' strength







- OG prevailed 44-19. Here's a photo of me making one of my three lineout steals on the day.










We were up slow, but better technique and knowing how to infringe without being caught proved the difference. The fact that the ref was an OG player had nothing to do with it whatsoever














Also, having a large number of players with no substitution rules helped us narrow down the fitness gap.

Here's a photo of the two sides (me far right front row):










Post match events consisted of a BBQ, a tour of the rugby complex under construction - no photos as I'd had a pint or so at that point, and heavy solicitation of pledges  . The facility will be one of the nicest dedicated rugby stadiums in the US when it is completed in the fall. Later we moved on to Gus' Tavern in Newburgh, the unofficial watering hole of USMA Rugby and well-chosen at that.










I had a great weekend, visiting one of the most scenic campuses in the world and welcoming another USMA class to Army rugby.

And not forgetting watches, I spotted these choice pieces whilst window shopping in Brooklyn and thought I'd post some photos. I've obtained the UK distributorship and Roy will be carrying the line - the queue forms behind Stan:


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Fantastic Colin ( err except for thewatches







) looks like a good time was had by all.


----------



## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

Nice one mate, love the first lineout shot, wicked variety of facial expressions.

Foz


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Looks like you had a pretty good time Colin and even had time to take some good watch 'photos.
















Do people really buy that tat?


----------



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

The store windows were full of this kind of rubbish. Thankfully I had sunglasses on and my camera had a polarizing lens
















It was a great weekend and I had a fantastic time. I'd love to say I'll not miss again, but we all know how likely that is. But I've got time: our oldest player was class of '64 - he started playing rubgy the year before I was born


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Great post Colin .... glad you enjoyed it


----------



## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Excellent









I didn't know they played rugby in the US - in fact I didn't know that they knew the game existed .................. sorry about that!!!!!!!!!!









Were there cheerleaders/dancers? Ilike dancers. The Leeds Rhinos have dancers - not that they come anywhere near where I stand & using binoculars would be a severe sign of sadness









Here's one called Amy .... phwooooaaarrrrrr









Ok, ok, I'll get me coat


----------



## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

USA Rugby factoids (mostly useless, but it's all we've got - for now):

We've got about 60K players in our union, right behind Scotland (80K) and Wales (71K). Unfortunately its largely old boys and our youth program is really just getting started. Our U-19s got relegated after the recent U-19 RWC in Dubai









USA are the reigning Olympic rugby gold medalists (1924, most likely due to the devastating effect of the war on rugby players in Europe, but there you have it).

We have two RWC victories to our name (Japan in '87 and again in '03); we missed a conversion in injury time to lose to Fiji 19-18 at RWC03. We were the only team to score a try against Australia during pool play at RWC '99. Of course, it was at the end of the match by which time their run-ons were in the clubhouse and we were facing their C-side







We are currently ranked 14th by the IRB, just behind Romania and Italy and just ahead of Canada and Japan.

Our women's team won the inaugural World Cup in '91 and finished 2nd in '94 and '98.

There is rugby league in the US too, though I've never run across a game. Our national team is the Tomahawks.

We have hosted a stop on the IRB 7s tour for the past two years and that is going to continue AFAIK.

But, no, we didn't have dancers Paul. The Academy administrators would probably have frowned on that







There were some pretty hot wives on the sidelines, however  All of which should not overshadow the fact that Amy should ring me this weekend as I'm travelling light


----------

