Matches against the Pittsburgh Harlequins are definitely something that our Club always looks forward to. We have a strong relationship with our in-state rivals and whether the match is home or away we know it’s going to be hard fought. We also know that when it is an away match we’re going to play on a great field and have a fun time in their clubhouse afterwards. This past weekend at Founder’s Field was no exception and we appreciate the Quins for being great hosts as always.

The D1 match went well for us as the Exiles ran in 7 tries to earn a 43-23 victory. Niall Carlson’s toughness was apparent as he went from being unable to train on Thursday to scoring two tries on Saturday. Ben Janssen (loose forward) and Sean Barnes (outside back) also each had a double and John Davis scored one as well.

For his work all over the park on offense and defense John Davis was named Man of the Match.

D1 Scorers:
T: Ben (2), Niall (2), Sean Barnes (2), John Davis (1),
C: Brian Keown (4),
P:

The D2 match went even better for us as Troop put up 6 unanswered tries in a shutout victory. Sometimes there’s simply no answer for speed out wide and that was the case in this match as Jack Ramirez ran in a hat trick. James Lampe, a really versatile player whose willingness to slot in anywhere has been a huge benefit to us, scored a double and Alex Ruiz added a try for good measure.

Part of our mission this season has been to help keep the collegiate rugby teams afloat by giving players an opportunity to get some match time and not head into the fall having taken almost two years off so we’re happy to have been joined by Vignesh Arunkumar, Michael Adamson, Matt Silver, and Kevin Lee from Pitt. Silver has since reached out and is joining the team fulltime going forward and we were also finally able to connect with Gus Dellinger from Kutztown and get him into a match.

Matt “Sully” Gyerman was named D2 Man of the Match. He is an excellent tackler with a big motor that does a lot of the dirty work around the park for his teammates.

D2 Scorers:
T: Jack Ramirez (3), James Lampe (2), Alex Ruiz (1),
C: Alex Ruiz (4)
P:

Since the guys worked hard to get ready for this weekend and delivered two big wins it’s also worth noting that afterwards John Davis and Rob Palladino were instrumental in winning the boatrace to put us at 3-0 on the weekend.

Debuts:
Gus Dellinger – Kutztown
Matt Silver – Pitt

Photo Links:
Pittsburgh has a photographer (@brandonreed.sports) who will provide us with a link when it’s ready. We’ll make sure to send it to our team. Please give credit to Brandon if you use a photo.

Season Scoring Totals:
Exiles:
T: Ben Janssen (4), Alex Ruiz (2), Danny Giannascoli (2) Jack Ramirez (2), Niall Carlson (2), Sean Barnes (2), Aaron Gray (1), Chase Haberstroh (1), Chris Wiggins (1), Dan Berger (1), Jeff Hall (1), John Davis (1)
C: Danny Giannascoli (7), Brian Keown (4), Alex Ruiz (3), Alex Walsh (1)
P: Danny Giannascoli (7)

Troop:
T: Bouba Bangoura (3), Jack Ramirez (3), Matt Rhodes (3), James Lampe (2), Kobie Tuckson (2), Kyle Kent (2), Alex Ruiz (1), Anthony Sessa (1), James Lesniak (1), Jon Ahern (1), Matt Zebrowski (1),
C: Ryan Tower (8), Alex Ruiz (4), Jon Ahern (1), Kyle Kent (1),
P: