Rugby New York, formerly known as Rugby United New York and now officially nicknamed the Ironworkers, are a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that is a member of

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). The team played an exhibition season in spring 2018 and joined MLR for its second full season in 2019. The team was founded by James Kennedy. In 2022, its first season under the Rugby New York name, the team made its first MLR Final appearance, winning a title in front of 1,979 attendees at Red Bull Arena in nearby Harrison, New Jersey.

History

In its 2018 exhibition season, RUNY was led by former USA men's national team coach

Mike Tolkin Mike Tolkin is a rugby union coach who served as head coach of the United States national team from 2012 until 2015. He was the head coach for Rugby United New York for the Major League Rugby 2019 Season. He is the current General Manager of P ...

, and assistant coaches Bruce McLane (former coach of

New York Athletic Club RFC The New York Athletic Club Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in New York City that is affiliated with the New York Athletic Club. Sponsorship American Rugby Premiership Club honors * Rugby Super League Champions: 2005, 2008, 2010, ...

), Andrew Britt, and Vili Vakasisikakala. The team's 2018 spring season consisted of matches against the

Ontario Arrows Toronto Arrows R.F.C. is a rugby union club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that plays in Major League Rugby. The Arrows team is an independent off-shoot of the Ontario Blues provincial programme and is funded by a group of private investors ...

and the

Mystic River Rugby Club The Mystic River Rugby Club, sometimes called Boston Mystic, is a New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) club, founded in 1974, located in Malden, Massachusetts and Melrose, Massachusetts, who field teams in Division 1 American Rugby Premiersh ...

of Boston. The team played its home matches at

Gaelic Park Gaelic Park ( ga, Páirc na nGael) is a multi-purpose outdoor athletics facility, located at West 240th Street and Broadway in Riverdale, Bronx, in New York City in the U.S. state of New York. Since 1926 the grounds has been used as the venue for ...

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. The team played its first match on March 17, 2018, at

Mazzella Field Mazzella Field is a 2,400 seat soccer-specific stadium on the campus of Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. It is home to the Iona College Gaels soccer, rugby, and lacrosse teams, as well as the Women's New York Magic of United Women's Socce ...

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

. New York defeated the Ontario Arrows by a score of 36–19. RUNY played its first match in New York City against Mystic River on March 24 before a sold-out crowd at Gaelic Park. New York defeated Mystic River by a score of 50–0. Ahead of the 2019 season, RUNY announced that they had retained

as the team's head coach, signed

Kees Lensing Gideon "Kees" Lensing (born 1 June 1978 in Keetmanshoop, Namibia) is a former Namibian rugby union player and former head coach of the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR). He played as a prop for six different teams over more than 1 ...

as the team's forwards coach, and named James English as general manager. On November 7, 2018, RUNY announced that

MCU Park Maimonides Park (formerly MCU Park and KeySpan Park) is a minor league baseball stadium on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. The home team and primary tenant is the New York Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones of ...

in Brooklyn would be their home field for their first full season.

Broadcasts

2019 and 2020 home games were shown on

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications thr ...

(SNY). Matt McCarthy, John Broker and Steve Lewis were the on air talent. The 2021 season matches was broadcast on MSG Networks, ending their contract with SNY.

Sponsorship

During the inaugural season, RUNY signed a partnership deal with

Magners Irish Cider Magners Irish Cider is a brand of hard cider produced in County Tipperary in Ireland by the C&C Group. The product range includes the cider varieties: Original, Light, Berry, Pear and Rosé. The cider was originally produced as Bulmers Irish ...

, the official drink partner and Bawnmore Irish Beef Jerky as the official snack partner for the 2019 season. They also partnered up with EVF Performance, the team's official gym and Motion PT Group, named the official

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

partner for the team. For the 2021 season, RUNY partnered with

Sword Performance A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip ...

, a sports drink hydration company. They also partnered with Mainfreight as their shirt sponsor for the next two seasons.

Roster

The Rugby New York squad for the

2022 Major League Rugby season The 2022 Major League Rugby season is the fifth season of Major League Rugby, the professional rugby union competition sanctioned by USA Rugby. The regular season began on February 5, 2022. The Dallas Jackals made their debut this season, hav ...

is: * Senior 15s internationally capped players are listed in bold. * * denotes players qualified to play for the on dual nationality or residency grounds. * MLR teams are allowed to field up to ten overseas players per match.

Head coaches

(2018–2019) * Greg McWilliams (2020) *

Marty Veale Marty Veale (born 9 August 1977) is a former rugby union player and is assistant coach with Northland in the Bunnings NPC. He played at lock for Northland in the ITM Cup competition. He formerly coached rugby as Head Coach of Rugby New York (R ...

(2021–2022) *

James Semple James Semple (January 5, 1798 – December 20, 1866) was an American attorney and politician. He was Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Attorney General of Illinois, an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, Chargé d'A ...

(2022–Present)

Captains

* Mike Petri (2019) *

Dylan Fawsitt Dylan Fawsitt (born July 24, 1990) is an Irish-born American rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Rugby New York (Ironworkers) in Major League Rugby (MLR) and also for the United States men's national team. His nickname is "The Butch ...

(2020–2021) *

Nate Brakeley Nate Brakeley (born August 31, 1989) is an American rugby union player who plays lock and flanker for Rugby New York (Ironworkers) of Major League Rugby (MLR) and for the United States men's national team. Brakeley also plays for the New Yor ...

(2022)

Records

Season standings

Honors

Head to Head

The following table details the past performance of Rugby United New York against different opponents in Major League Rugby, between their inaugural season of 2019 up until the current 2022 season (Updated after MLR Final(MLR 2022 season) 25 June). Table includes all regular season and play-off matches (semi-finals and finals).

2018 season

All games in the 2018 season were exhibition games and did not count in the league standings.

2019 season

Exhibitions

Regular season

Post season

2020 season

Exhibition

Regular season

On March 12, 2020, MLR announced the season would go on hiatus immediately for 30 days due to fears surrounding the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic. It was cancelled the following week

2021 season

Regular season

Post season

2022 season

Regular season

Post season

References

External links

Official Website
{{Rugby New York squad Major League Rugby teams 2018 establishments in New York City Rugby clubs established in 2018 Rugby union teams in New York City Rugby union teams in New York (state) Sports teams in New York City