ThE MESSENGER - Franco-American School of New York

Mr. Taylor
When the date was announced
for the Greenwich-FASNY rugby match,
people laughed. They thought that Greenwich
would crush the FASNY players, like
a little ants. Critics complained that the
FASNY were too small. FASNY were indeed
the underdogs, but Greenwich had a
lot of trouble dealing with them.
Both teams
stepped on to the
field. It was time for
kick-off. The game
started. The game was
one hell of a ride. Every
time Greenwich
scored a try, FASNY
responded. After a
try by Greenwich’s
number 8, Cyril passes it to Aleksi. He’s
gone. He’s too fast. He powers past the
defense and is well into FASNY’s half before
he is brought down! The crowd goes
wild. From there, Gonzague Demoulin
pulled the ball out of a ruck and passes
the ball to Paul Castaybert, who scores
the FASNY’s first try of the day, bringing
FASNY within one try of the lead.
But that’s when disaster struck: Nicolas
Granato was down. As the players and
coaches kneeled down next to him, he
was slowly carried off the field. FASNY
parents and players cheered for Nicolas,
as he exited the field with a concussion
A couple of moments later Matheo
Remy shows his skills and agility and scores!
With FASNY only down a few points due
to missed conversions from nearly impossible
angles at halftime, the parents stare
in shock. FASNY is in the lead! But the
Sh a r k Sp o r t S
Januar y 2012
FASNY Middle School Rugby:
A Rising Team
By Thomas de Villemejane
injury train is not derailed, as Thomas de
Villemejane gets stomped on the eye by a
pair of cleats. As he exits the game, Greenwich
scores again.
After a powerful Paul Castaybert
try and yet another try by Greenwich’s
number 8, the score is 19-17. As the crowd
cheers, number 8 has crossed the line
The Evolution of Rugby Kids
again. He is a beast. One second, Paul is
celebrating, and the next, the score is 26-
17. But here comes Aleksi Goulet to the
rescue. He shoves players off, he runs past
everybody and scores. 26-22. But everyone
here knows time is running out. FASNY
receives the kick. They give it to Aleksi.
He’s off! But someone somehow catches
up to him and tackles him. The ref looks
at the coach and signals that this is the last
play. Number 9, Gonzague, looks at Louis.
He passes it to Louis Lejamtel, who runs
towards the try line. The crowd is on their
feet. Moments before Louis runs past the
line, the ref signals the end of the game.
Louis had stepped out of bounds!
In the end, the score didn’t matter.
FASNY played a heck of a game, and that’s
what mattered. Everyone played really well
and now, FASNY is one scary team!!!!
On Est Les Champtions!
On May 5th, FASNY held the first Annual Varsity Rugby Tournament,
and the boys beat out the competition to win the cup.
The tournament included Greenwich High School, the Lycée Français
de New York, and South Shore Rugby Club. FASNY beat local rivals
Greenwich 15-10, then lost to South Shore 20-10. FASNY then demolished
a weakened Lycée 40-5.
FASNY then faced off with South Shore once again in the final. At
half-time, it was all tied up and the atmosphere was tense. FASNY took over
in the second half, though, and pulled off a gritty 25-10 victory.
“A beautiful display of what French rugby is all about was demonstrated
and we can only hope for more next year,” wrote coaches Julien
Laveyssieres and Jérôme Faure in a celebratory e-mail to the community.
Left: As Jack Faure (’12) hoists the trophy, Coach Laveyssieres shows
his pride and Trustees Chairman—and father to players Sacha (’12)
and Lucas (’13)—Mischa Zabotin applauds the victory.
FASNY Middle School Rugby:
Meet the Players
Par Paul Castaybert et Louis Le Jamtel
La saison de rugby 2012-
2013 a été une des meilleures saisons
de l’équipe du collège depuis la création
du programme de rugby de
FASNY en 2008-2009. M. Ekotto
et Robin Deroche (’13) ont entraîné
l’équipe avec l’aide de M. Taylor.
Leur passion dans les entraînements
et les matchs a beaucoup
contribué au succès de l’équipe.
Mais ce succès n’aurait pas
été possible sans les joueurs. Les
avants ont fait, la plupart du temps,
un excellent travail : la première ligne
consistait de joueurs très solides « Les
Rois des Rucks »: #1 Coby (The Wall)
Hilelly, #2 Louis (Rambo) Le Jamtel,
#3 Jules (The Last of the Le Jamtels)
Le Jamtel. Ces joueurs se sont trouvés
dans chaque ruck de la saison.
La deuxième ligne de
l’équipe utilisait un mélange de force,
agilité et rapidité, les « Tough Guys »
: #4 Mark (La Brute Epaisse) Faguer
et #5 Paul (Chewbacca) Castaybert.
La troisième ligne avait des
joueurs qui travaillaient dur, mais
qui, après le match, se regardaient
dans le miroir pour des heures pour
s’assurer qu’ils n’avaient pas abîmé
leur figure. « Les Beaux Gosses » :
#6 Jean (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi,
Oi, Oi) Horikawa, #7 Thomas (Everybody
Loves Him) Horikawa,
#8 Hector (Goldilocks) Sonnois.
Mais, quand les titulaires
étaient fatigués, il fallait des excellents
remplaçants pour maintenir le
haut niveau de rugby. Benoît (Su-
per Mario) Charriaud, Augustin
(The Peacemaker) Rivoire et Louis
(Allez La Belgique) Marchand remplaçaient
les joueurs de la première
ligne. Les gros de la deuxième ligne
étaient substitués par Thomas (The
Creator) De Villemejane et Mathieu
(Do I Really Have to do This) Rizk.
Pour les trois quart, il y
avait : Gonzague (Salut les Filles)
Demoulin, Aleksi (Crazy Canuck)
Goulet, Mathéo (Creator) Remy,
Cyril (I’m better than you) Douady,
Alban (You did what) Douady, Nicolas
(Seeing Stars) Granato, William
(Ginger) Mason, Nathan (Fais
Gaffe) Poisnel, Guillaume (Coeur de
Lion) Dupaquier, Melchior (Hippie,
Cowboy, Who actually knows what
he is) Deroche, Mattéo (Eh! Ca va
pas non) Trulli. Finalement, notre
capitaine était Marcel (No comment
needed) Dupuy D’Angeac.
La star de l’équipe, pourtant,
était Aleksi Goulet qui
utilisait sa vitesse pour marquer
un maximum d’essais.
Chaque joueur a fait son
plus grand effort pour gagner
des matchs, mais surtout, pour
s’amuser. Avec un équilibre de
joueurs sérieux et amusants, les deux
étaient possibles. Il faudra faire de
même l’année prochaine, mais sans
les 4e (3e de 2012-13). Nous leur
souhaitons une bonne saison avec
l’équipe du lycée, et nous espérons
que les 6e de l’année prochaine
seront aussi sérieux et amusants.