The Atlantic Rugby Premiership men’s club league kicked off Friday night with White Plains taking on New York Athletic Club, and it was White Plains that held on for the 34-28 win.
It’s a pretty experienced White Plains side with Fijians Jasa Veremalua (lock), Jale Railala (lock), Mosese Dawai (No. 8), Alasio Naduva (scrumhalf), and Filimoni Waqainabete (center) all in the lineup carrying international or professional gigs on their resume—those players have been playing with White Plains and working in the region for some time. Former MLR #1 pick Eric Naposki patrols the wing and the War Pigs also have a very strong St. Bonaventure connection. This fast-moving White Plains side ran out to a big lead in the first half.
However the young but tenacious NYAC side started to creep back and scored a couple late to get within a try at 34-28. The second-half effort earned NYAC two bonus points, one for four tries and one for a close loss.
“I feel good about today’s game,” Naposki said post-match. “A win is a win, there are definitely things to clean up, but we’re happy to start the season this way.”
“The major work-on for us was to work on our exits,” chimed in assistant coach Api Naikatini. “The boys did well. The boys did well the first half but the second half we went to sleep and shot ourselves in the foot. Credit to NYAC they’re a young team and they came to play and put a lot of pressure on us.”
NYAC got 13 points from flyhalf Erwan Nicholas, who earned player-of-the-game honors for his team. Prop Matt Weiner was player of the game for the War Pigs, putting in a full 80 minutes at loosehead prop and carrying hard throughout, partnering nicely with his brother and team captain Ray Weiner, Jr., who was at tighthead.
Their father and White Plains Head Coach Ray Sr. was characteristically laconic about the opening match.
“We’ve got to get some practice in, a lot of practice,” he said. “We played too loose as everyone knows we do.”
NYAC Head Coach Mike Tolkin said he was proud of his players and how much courage they showed in mounting a comeback. That, he said, was something build on. But they have to execute some basics.
“Disappointed to lose,” Tolkin said. “We need to work on securing possession first phase. holding onto the ball better in rucks, being more physical.”
White Plains is now 1-0 and NYAC starts 0-1 but with some positives.
Next Week NYAC takes on Old Blue while White Plains faces Mystic River in a league where there are no easy games.
"That's a much-improved NYAC team," added Weiner. "And that's good. It makes every game a tough game which is what we want. Blowouts mean nothing; they just reinforce bad habits."
