The most notable result of the first round of the 2019 Major league Rugby season has to be debutant team Rugby United New York beating San Diego on the road, but maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Head coach Mike Tolkin has been a winner whenever he has coached in the USA, and anyone who knows him would have expected Tolkin to have his team ready.

“We had a good platform to work from, but this was the first time we’ve been able to play together since December,” Tolkin told FloRugby. “We had a very clear game plan and a clear menu of what we want to do on the day. And the guys did it.”

It wasn’t easy, as New York won a back-and-forth contest 25-23.

“We had to dig deep at times,” added Tolkin, who got big games from John Quill and Nate Brakeley, and saw Will Leonard break out. “We tried to play an open game, we want to be ambitious.”

But sometimes they were forced to be conservative, and that’s probably smart, too, when you’re on the road.

“We’re just happy to get the result,” added the coach. “I was really happy with the intent and how the guys approached it all.”

On that high, RUNY will lose some players to the USA team, and also get a week off - probably just as well with the way travel is likely to be this weekend. 

The Utah Warriors kick off their season at Austin, while Glendale visits New Orleans. The Seattle Seawolves will try to replicate RUNY’s effort, and win on the road at San Diego.