Despite the COVID shutdowns, we’ve seen little pockets of rugby spring up around the USA, and one select side is doggedly trying to keep the dream alive.
The Met New York U23s powered by the New York Athletic Club Foundation is looking to get on the field. It’s a group of college-aged players, many of whom have played as teammates or opponents since high school.
“We started out as a group of guys from Pelham about three years ago who wanted to play at the New York 7s,” said scrumhalf Luke Persanis, who played at Pelham and then Delaware. “We did pretty well and then we added some guys from Xavier and Play Rugby and got some sponsorship support and went back there two years ago. then the AC foundation came in.”
With Persanis’s dad, Matt, coaching and Keith Killeen brought in, they won their bracket at the New York 7s, “something no one really expected us to do,” said the younger Persanis.
“Now, with no New York 7s we started expanding into 15s. There are more and more players who want to be involved." Although they are originally from the Met NY area, they now go to colleges all over the country.. "I think part of that is because players haven’t played in a long time.," added Persanis. "For some of us it has been basically an entire year since they last played a game.”
So, with Luke Persanis and John Powers (one of those 12-month-idle players) as captains, the group has been running trainings, wearing masks the whole time and following strict protective protocols. Players are health-checked before each training, but they self-police as well. They are essentially told that if they don’t feel well at all, to just stay home. And they do.
“No one wants to jeopardize the chance to play,” said Persanis.
Players are tested on a regular basis and must have had a negative test within the past three days to train (they train every three days). Everyone is doing it.
So the MetNY team is feeling pretty good about their skills; now they just want to play.
“We feel like we’ve got a really good team,” said Persanis. “We just through it would be a shame for it to go to waste.”
| Met NY U23s Powered By the AC Foundation | ||||||
| Name | Position(s) | Age | Height | Weight | Bronco score | College |
| Liam Anderson | Lock/Flanker | 20 | 6-2 | 208 | 4:49 | Iona |
| Anthony Anyonelli | Lock/Flanker | 20 | 6-4 | 210 | 4:51 | Iona |
| Jack Brandes | Lock/Flanker | 5:12 | Iona | |||
| Cam Digiorgio | Flanker | 21 | 6-2 | 215 | 4:53 | Iona |
| Ryan Hercules | Center | 22 | 5-10 | 230 | 4:55 | Life |
| Justin Johnson | Wing | 22 | 5-9 | 175 | Lafayette | |
| Nick Lapponesse | Lock/No. 8 | 19 | 6-3 | 222 | 4:33 | Fairfield |
| Dylan Lewis | Scrumhalf | 18 | 5-6 | 145 | 4:49 | Brown |
| Justin Lopez | Wing/Center/Fullback | 25 | 5-8 | 200 | 4:40 | Delaware |
| Mike Marro | Flyhalf/Center/Fullback | 24 | 5-10 | 195 | 5:31 | Iona |
| Yohendy Martinez | Lock/No. 8 | 23 | 6-2 | 240 | 5:20 | St Bonaventure |
| Luke McDermott | Prop/Hooker | 21 | 5-10 | 240 | Delaware | |
| Pat Murtagh | Hooker | 19 | 5-11 | 206 | 4:52 | Indiana |
| Charlie Overton | Lock | 20 | 6-6 | 225 | 4:57 | Penn St |
| Luke Persanis | Scrumhaf/Flyhalf/Wing | 21 | 5-9 | 160 | 4:33 | Delaware |
| Joe Philips | Fullback/Flyhalf/Wing | 24 | 5-11 | 215 | 4:28 | Canisius |
| John Powers | Flyhalf/Center | 23 | 6-0 | 185 | 4:44 | Iona |
| Jesus Robles | Prop/Hooker | 24 | 5-10 | 195 | 5:05 | St Bonaventure |
| Mike Scarcella | Center/Wing | 24 | 6-1 | 207 | 5:14 | Iona |
| Kojo Sheng | Flyhalf/Center/Wing | 18 | 5-11 | 165 | 4:52 | Santa Clara |
| Jarod Smallwood | Prop | 22 | 6-3 | 245 | Fordham | |
| Tom Treussard | Center | 20 | 5-11 | 190 | 4:41 | Penn St |
| Moriyah Tulloch | Wing/Flyhalf | 22 | 5-9 | 5:02 | Canissius | |
| John Walsh | Lock | 19 | 6-2 | 220 | 5:02 | Catholic |
| John Zeich | Prop | 19 | 5-11 | 230 | 5:10 | Kutztown |
