NEW HAVEN, CT – The Mystics managed to put together some decent rugby in the second half to pull away from New Haven in muddy conditions. The first half saw the Mystics open the scoring with two unconverted tries from Rob Howes, but New Haven got some momentum from two tries of their own to take a 12-10 lead into half time. The New Haven lead could have been larger, but the referee was unsighted for a maul where it looked like New Haven might have gotten over the line, and New Haven received a scrum rather than a try.

The second half saw the Mystics come out looking stronger, and the boys in blue put together some more structured forward phases to get the ball moving downfield, with the pack doing a lot of the work behind man of the match Joe Lusse. The phases started to open up some gaps, and the Mystics took full advantage of the space in tight to score two tries from A-side debutantes, Liam Hindmarch and Rob Howes, who got his hat-trick. A Mystic turnover on the wing also saw Evin O’Driscoll take the ball blind for an 80 yard breakaway try. The final score for the A-side game was 27-12.

The B side was tight on numbers, with a number of guys having subbed on during the A-side match. Nonetheless, the boys played some hard rugby up front to walk away with a strong win. As for the A side, the man of the match was in the tight five, with Nick Colander doing a lot of the hard work.

The upcoming long weekend will be a bye weekend, but the Mystics will be in Canton the week after to take on the Irish Wolfhounds in a crucial match for both team’s fall campaigns.