Colts finish 9-0
21 Oct 2009
by: CDT J. Osborne
West Point’s Colts v. New Paltz
Score: 78-0
Try Scorers: Justin Turner (x4), Lee Namy (x2), Jake Osborne (x3), James Bailey (x2), Logan Goldstein
Conversions: Kyle Palmer: 9 of 12
Penalty Kicks: Kyle Palmer: 0 of 3
On Sunday October 18, Army traveled to New Paltz to take on the Hawks for the second time this season. Army was able to utilize their field position well, keeping New Paltz in their own half for the majority of the match. Because of Army’s dominance in the set pieces, the backline was awarded go forward ball allowing them to pick apart the New Paltz defense. Inside center, Justin Turner, cut the New Paltz defense with 3 tries in the first half alone. One of these tries came off of a superbly placed grubber kick from flyhalf Kyle Palmer, which countered the New Paltz defense’s heavy lift. Army fullback James Bailey added another score late in the first half when he reached the corner off of a long transfer from Palmer. Bailey beat the defense on a 40 meter breakaway and leapt into the corner of the try zone for an Army score. Army’s defense held strong and the back 3 covered their space and worked the counters well to maintain consistent field position in New Paltz’s territory.
After a nice showing in the first, Army came out even stronger in the second half. Army maintained their presence in the set pieces. After one such line out deep in New Paltz territory, Army set into a powerful maul and began to drive New Paltz back to within their 5 meter. Lee Namy broke out of the maul and drove the last bit where he was able to score. Army and Namy would repeat this later in the second half for yet another try. Continuing the offensive pressure, Justin Turner was able to break the New Paltz Defense for another try. Bailey, at fullback, added yet another try on a quick pass from scrum half Trevor Mitchell after Mitchell spotted a break in the defense. The Army offense continued the positive go forward and created three more try scoring opportunities, coming from Army outside center Jake Osborne. One of which coming from phase play with the ball passing expertly through the hands of Mitchell, Austin Laetsch, and Kallen Ryan before reaching Osborne’s hands on the corner. Army capped their victory in the final seconds with a beautiful pull pass from Trevor Mitchell to flanker Logan Goldstein who touched it down in the left corner.
Army’s defense remained solid for the duration of the match by not only shutting out the New Paltz attack, but by keeping the ball in New Paltz territory for the majority of the match. Army was able to seal the game with a 78-0 victory through domination of the set pieces and solid defense, and good ball handling and reads throughout.
The victory over New Paltz capped off a very successful season for the Colts. They improved every week and were able to set up more and more scoring opportunities throughout the matches. The forwards did an excellent job of creating quick, go forward ball for the backs, this go forward lead to some very exciting rugby from the backline. This is a very promising group going into the future of West Point Rugby.