The young Pleiades rugby 7s side that Kevin Bunce Sr. coaches did itself proud in the Thanksgiving 7s tournament on Randalls Island, sweeping through the social division without a loss.
“Pleiades was the original name of the Montauk Rugby Club,” Bunce said during a recent conversation at The Star. “After the Seven Sisters constellation. Sevens teams have crazy names.”
At any rate, the tournament was, said Bunce, “the biggest 7s tournament in North America, there were 132 teams, and our showing there shows how far we’ve come. We’re not making the silly mistakes, like reaching into rucks, that we used to. We played five games, going up against older, more experienced guys, and won them all.”
More and more young players, eager to keep the Montauk Rugby tradition alive, have been showing up, he said, at Tuesday and Thursday evening practices at East Hampton’s Herrick Park.
“We’ve got to have a youth movement — we’ve got to keep bringing them in,” he continued. “John Rutkowski, who’d never played before, played great. He made great passes, great tackles, and had a great time. Our vets, most of them in their early 20s, were Josh King, George Calderon, Jordan Johnson, and Stephen Early. Josh played at American International College, a top-10 D-1 club. He carries people down the field; he scored a bunch of tries. Rob Lechner, who’s from Northport, literally hurt people all day long. He’s one of the strongest players Montauk’s ever had, like Eddie Pierzynski and Tim Egan. Rob is like them. Then we had Wayne Street, a senior who plays football and wrestles at William Floyd High School. He’s our youngest player; a tackle never gets by him. He’s so fast, his footwork is phenomenal. He blows by everybody. Jacen Tuthill, the football team’s former quarterback, played for us, and Finn Byrnes,” an East Hampton High School senior, “was there too.”
The Pleiades were in a 16-team bracket, Bunce said. Among the sides they defeated were the Montreal Armada, the Ottawa Wanderers, the Quebec Francais, and the Queens Bridge Ghosts. His charges beat Montreal in the final.
“It was a hard game, back and forth. Stephen Early made a massive game-winning tackle at the goal line after which we moved the ball downfield for the winning score . . . by Josh probably. There were some spectators from here who went. It was exciting to see Montauk back playing again — these kids were sick of Covid. A year and a half of doing nothing had driven them crazy. They were ready to go.”
The Thanksgiving tournament championship was the young side’s first. Bunce has since the summer been having the Pleiades play up in open men’s divisions. “That’s the best way for them to learn,” he said. The team went 1-4 at a Rockaway tournament in June, and, going up against sides from Brooklyn, Queens, and the New York Police Department, “won a few” at the Suffolk Bull Moose 7s tourney in July.
“We’re going to try to go to the Winter 7s in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on Jan. 14,” Bunce said. “The guys are training hard. They rely on each other. A lot of them don’t have brothers, so they treat each other like brothers. They like hanging around with each other, which is important. . . . It’s exciting, it’s fun. I’m trying to change who they are by playing to their strengths. In 7s you have to do things at full speed. We’re finally getting there. Next year will be Montauk’s 50th anniversary. We’re hoping to get three or four matches at Herrick in the summer, on Saturdays at around 5 or 6. Fifty years. Not many clubs have been around that long. But you’ve got to keep the ball rolling.”