Buffalo is a Rugby Town

buffalorising.com

04 May 2022

Mud, guts, and a little bit of blood, sweat, and cheers – that’s what you get when a regional rugby festival comes to town. This past weekend, 24 teams – from four geographic conferences stretching across the mid-Atlantic states – arrived to Knox Farm in East Aurora, to battle it out to advance towards the heralded national final four tournament. In the end, six senior men’s and women’s clubs earned regional championships, of which four will head to the big showdown, for their respective divisions.

Hosting the inaugural two-day 2022 USA Rugby Atlantic Super Regional Rugby Festival is kind of a big deal for Buffalo, for a number of reasons. First off, the idyllic setting of Knox Farm just can’t be beat when it comes to hosting a tournament of this nature. Buffalo was showcased in an amazing light. Secondly, Buffalo Rugby Club (BRC) managed to capture the Atlantic Super Regional men’s D2 title and advance to the national final four for the first time in club history. Thanks to a 32-28 victory against Washington Rugby Football Club on Saturday, and a nail-biting 43-26 overtime win against Doylestown Men’s Rugby Club (representing the Eastern Pennsylvania Union) on Sunday, the team found itself in an unprecedented circumstance. In previous years, Buffalo has made the round of sixteen 13 times and the round of eight 6 times in the 56 year history of the club. Needless to say, securing the Atlantic Super Regional men’s D2 title was an emotional moment for the tenacious team.

Tournament play highlights for Buffalo Rugby Club:

On Saturday, April 30th, Buffalo first played Washington Rugby Football Club to a tight 32-28 victory. Flyhalf Simon Honig led Buffalo with twenty-two points (two tries, three conversions, two penalty kicks) to lead the club past a very talented and fast paced Washington squad. Team captain Mike Lang and fullback Nick D’Amato each scored one try for BRC.
In Sunday’s D2 ‘elite eight’ finale, Buffalo met familiar foe Doylestown Men’s Rugby Club representing the Eastern Pennsylvania Union. Buffalo jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Doylestown battled back to a 19- 14 halftime deficit. Late into the second half, Doylestown led 26-19, however a last second push resulting in a try from Josh Bennett and converted kick by Honig tied the score at 26-even as time expired and thus initiating overtime.
In the first ten minute overtime period, Honig earned the lead back with a three-point penalty kick. Shortly after, he ran in his second try of the match and converted the kick to give Buffalo a ten point lead. In the second ten minute overtime period, Lang touched down a try followed by another Honig conversion to make a seventeen-point margin with time quickly running down.
Buffalo would hold on to win, 43-26 to capture the Atlantic Super Regional men’s D2 title and advance to the national ‘final four’ for the first time in club history

Next up, Buffalo will play the representative team out of the Midwest region on Saturday, May 21 at Silverback Park in Atlanta in the national final four at 2pm. If Buffalo wins, they will play for the men’s Division 2 national title on Sunday the 22nd at 12:30pm.

“We knew that this was an incredible opportunity for our club; we knew that we would show well for western New York and that the rugby community would show up in droves – which they did – to support us and all of the other teams that competed this weekend,” said BRC president Jeff Qualey. “The opportunity to not only host the inaugural Super Regional tournament but also compete and win it at the same time is a historic moment for our club. Our goal as a club and community at large was to show how strong our rugby culture is here in WNY with putting on a great event while giving our team the best opportunity to succeed.”

Qualey continued “We want to thank all of our volunteers and the Empire GU for the support in helping get the tournament off the ground as well as the leaders of the three other GU’s and USA Rugby for their support. We want to thank all our sponsors & partners of the Festival, especially the support from David Gunner and the Town of Aurora and Mark Gemerek and the Aurora Arsenal Soccer Club for their time and support leading up to and through the Festival. The Town and the Arsenal club went above and beyond to help make this a successful event. Lastly, we want to thank our friends, families, and alumni for the support not only this weekend but throughout this year and past years.”

“On Saturday we [New England Rugby Football Union] went 4-1 overall. Going into day two, we tried to maintain as much momentum as we could as an organization,” said NERFU president Brad Dufresne. “Providence D2 women punched their ticket to the national tournament while Monadnock captured the D4 men’s regional title.”

“The Town of Aurora has been amazing. There is incredible proximity to the fields…just a beautiful layout here. I really liked the playing in fields in a four-corners type approach. The middle runway made it really feel like a festival-type environment, well thought out. Props to Buffalo, massive props to [tournament director] Lex Maccubbin…that man deserves a Medal of Honor for the things he pulled off here. Lots of thanks to Empire GU. Obviously, they have great leaders and they have set the baseline for this agreement that we have between the four unions going forward. Referee resources were really strong. I loved the energy around the marketing and branding and getting the good news out about great rugby happening in the area.”

Dufresne said on his Monadnock team, “It is a great community focused group of guys. We did a great job of recruiting this year, we got a couple of cross over athletes that really bolstered us and took us to the next level. We play in a really strong division in New Hampshire with D4 because we are trying to get that grass roots feel and encourage the community game. Monadnock boys left it all out of the field and ended up with a nice 20-0 win for the regional men’s D4 title.”

“Day one was great…it started out fantastic,” said Capital Rugby Union president Matt Robinette. All three Capital women’s teams competed hard. Northern Virginia women [D1] and Rappahannock women [D3] both won championships so congratulations to them. Moreover, the celebration of rugby and the collaboration between four unions to make this happen in a professional manner has been outstanding. The player experience has been great, the member benefit is there, and for the community, western New York and Buffalo have been a great host. We [Capital Rugby Union] are hosting the tournament next year so I am hoping we can do as well as they did.”

“To the Town of Aurora staff, I would like to say thank you. It’s not often where at a rugby social we have politicians, city managers, town managers, and high-ranking departmental officials. The fact that they showed up was amazing. It legitimizes what many of us in the tourism world – in which I am a professional in – understand that sports tourism is a huge economic impact for any destination. We’ve been given nothing but assurances that this tournament will go on. The town has been great…it’s just been a really great experience. The Town of Aurora, the Empire Geographic Union, and the tournament partners rolled out the red carpet for us… for club rugby. It’s a standard that we all need to meet.”

(key: CRU = Capital Rugby Union. EGU = Empire Geographic Union. EPU = Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union. NERFU = New England Rugby Football Union)

Men’s Division 4

First round

Rochester Aardvarks (EGU) 45 – Western Suburbs (CRU) 17

Monadnock Wolfpack (NERFU) 49 – Loudoun Rugby (CRU) 21

Consolation

Loudoun Rugby 55 – Western Suburbs 29

Championship final

Monadnock 20 – Rochester Aardvarks 0

Women’s Division 3

First round

Rappahannock (CRU) 71 – Uticuse (EGU) 15

Amoskeag (NERFU) 47 – Brandywine Riot (EPU) 22

Consolation

Brandywine Riot 14 – Uticuse 12

Championship final

Rappahannock 19 – Amoskeag 17

Men’s Division 3

First round

Union County Mud Turtles (EGU) 36 – Rappahannock Golden Boars (CRU) 12

Charles River (NERFU) 52 – Lehigh Valley Hooligans (EPU) 24

Consolation

Rappahannock Golden Boars 41 – Lehigh Valley Hooligans 40

Championship final

Union County Mud Turtles 15 – Charles River 14

Women’s Division 2

First round

Severn River (CRU) 54 – New Haven (EGU) 7

Providence (NERFU) 31 – Phoenixville White Horse (EPU) 20

Consolation

New Haven 29 – Phoenixville White Horse 12

Championship final

Providence 8 – Severn River 5

Men’s Division 2

First round

Buffalo (EGU) 32 – Washington (CPU) 28

Doylestown (EPU) 27 – Boston (NERFU) 26

Consolation

Washington 26 – Boston 12

Championship final (overtime)

Buffalo 43 – Doylestown 26

Women’s Division 1

First round

Northern Virginia (CRU) 90 – Philadelphia (EPU) 0

Atlanta Harlequins (CRU) 22 – Raleigh Venom (CRU) 20

Consolation

Raleigh Venom 19 – Philadelphia 5

Championship final

Northern Virginia 32 – Atlanta Harlequins 3

Empire GU

Rochester Aardvarks – men’s D4 – 1-1
Uticuse – women’s D3 – 0-2
Union County – men’s D3 – 2-0
New Haven – women’s D2 – 1-1
Buffalo Rugby Club – men’s D2 – 2-0

Capital Rugby Union

Western Suburbs – men’s D4 – 0-2
Loudoun Rugby – men’s D4 – 1-1
Rappahannock – women’s D3 – 2-0
Rappahannock Golden Bears – men’s D3 – 1-1
Severn River – women’s D3 – 1-1
Washington RFC – men’s D2 – 1-1
NOVA (Northern Virginia) – women’s D1 – 2-0
Atlanta Harlequins – women’s D1 – 1-1
Raleigh Venom – women’s D1 – 1-1

Eastern Pennsylvania Union

Brandywine Riot – women’s D3 – 1-1
Phoenixville White Horse – women’s D2 – 0-2
Lehigh Valley Hooligans – men’s D3 – 0-2
Doylestown – men’s D2 – 1-1
Philadelphia – women’s D1 – 0-2

NERFU

Monadnock Wolfpack – men’s D4 – 2-0
Amoskeag – women’s D3 – 1-1
Charles River – men’s D2 – 1-1
Providence – women’s D2 – 2-0
Boston – men’s D2 – 0-2

The following teams will advance to the national final four in their respective divisions on May 21st and 22nd at Silverback Park in Atlanta, Georgia:

Northern Virginia Women’s Rugby Club – women’s D1

Buffalo Rugby Club – men’s D2

Providence Rugby Football Club – women’s D2

Union County Mud Turtles – men’s D3

Official sponsors & partners of the 2022 USA Rugby Atlantic Super Regional Rugby Festival

Glenn Nenoff – 716 Youth Rugby
John Cimperman – 42 North Brewing Company
Nick Kusmierski – The Market In The Square
Viru Patel – Rudra Hotel Management
Mark Gemerek and Arsenal Soccer Club of East Aurora
David Gunner and the Town of Aurora Jeff Qualey – Quest Janitorial Services Buffalo Rugby Club