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Anchormen Newsletter

2002 19th Annual Beast of the East Tournament

April 20 & 21, 2002

he biggest collegiate tournament of the year has come and gone and the Anchormen walk away with their best performance ever. But last year the Anchormen achieved third place you ask? Yes, but to get the chance to win third, you need to lose your first match then win the Consolation bracket. But Rhode Island College did not want to win the Consolation round, they were trying to win the whole thing. As you may know by now, that did not happen, but no RIC team has ever made it to the second day in the winner's bracket. In addition, no other Division III made it to the second day other than your Rhode Island College Anchormen.

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Saturday, 8am
Rhode Island College vs UMass Amhearst
RIC 7 - UMass 5

The day started early as the Anchormen face UMass in the first game of the tournament. Quickly, Umass was the first to score by blocking and intercepting a kick from Brian Flamand and making the score 5 - 0. Fortunately, the Anchormen held off various attacks down the field with great tackling and support for the remainder of the first half.

Second half presented more of the same defensive positioning when Paul "PJ" Lague and Troy Lambert were able to get the ball outside UMass's defense, with a quick pass to Ben Martish who ran for a 15 meter score to tie the game at 5 - 5. Brian Flamand then redeemed his deflected kick by nailing the conversion to place RIC ahead to stay.

Solid performances by the defense closed the door on UMass and opened the advance to the Second Round.

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Saturday, 4pm
Rhode Island College vs Bryant College
RIC 12 - UMass 0

Last fall, Bryant defeated RIC 12 - 5. Last week, RIC defeated Bryant at their home tournament, on their field 7 - 5. This week set up the rubber match for the year and the chance to make the elite 8 of the Beast. The Anchormen came out swinging. Last week's hero, Colin Speko placed the first points on the board with a nice bull run down the sideline into the Bulldog's endzone.

Tensions were high on both side of the ball into the second half. After a couple of scuffles and disagreements, the nail was placed in Bryant's coffin by Troy Lambert as he trudges in for a try and also a sinbin penalty for Misconduct. Placing the Anchormen a man down for 10 minutes did not alter the outcome as RIC advanced to the Elite 8 with the second round win.

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Sunday, 9am
Rhode Island College vs Central Connecticut College
RIC 0 - UMass 63

Yeah, well....I wasn't going to right the score, but it was what it was. Some may ask what went RIC's way during the game...well, we walk on the field and we walked off. You ask one of the Anchormen what happened, we played one hell of a team and we fought them all the way and didn't give up. Central Connecticut is a legitimate Division I rugby team that has been together for a while and rolled the Anchormen to a 63 - 0 annihilation.

This loss may have represented the biggest loss in our history, but it mostly told us what we can become with the young and extremely talented team that RIC has. Heads held high, the Rhode Island College Anchormen finished the weekend with their best results ever.

Bryant Tournament
April 13, 2002

wo weeks of tournaments and two weeks of reaching the finals. Last week, the men's club were defeated 21-3 by Springfield College in the championship match, this week, the Anchormen redeemed the loss by conquering Springfield 12 - 5.

To the team's surprise, RIC dominated the first half of the game with a score by first-time tryer Ben "Hollywood" Martish. With a success conversion and another try by all-world President - Paul "PJ" Lague, RIC took a 12 - 0 lead. Several key factors in the scrum and rucks kept the ball in the control of the Anchormen while the backs capitalized on the pack's success.

In the second half, Springfield brought in some bigger guns and kept RIC on their half of the field the majority of the period. A hole in RIC's defense allowed to give Springfield their first and only score of the game. After the score the Anchormen held their ground and maintained the victory to move to the Championship match.

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Bryant's defeat of Nichols College place them in the Championship match at their home tournament. This proved to be a tough opponent for the Anchormen as Bryant immediately place 5 points on the board after poorly missed tackles by the men's club. With the wind against RIC and the early score, it was showing to be a long game. After the score the defense tightened up and held the Bulldogs to their lone score for the first half.

As the second half began, sloppy play place RIC at several disadvantages but never allowed Bryant to capitalize on the mistakes. With the wind at the Anchormen's

backs, the ball stayed in Bryant's half for a significant amount of time. A costly personal penalty caused Bryant to go a man down for 10 minutes which allowed RIC to beat the ball down the field and wear down the Bulldogs. although no score was gained.

With five minutes remaining in the game and the Anchormen down 5 - 0, forward Colin Sepko stole a Bryant pass and bulled his way 22 meters to the Bulldog's try zone to tie the game. This season's current leading scorer, Brian Flamand converted on kick after to place RIC up 7 - 5.

This allowed RIC to play conservative rugby and burn the time to zero for the championship.

Bridgewater State Tournament
April 6, 2002

he first tournament of the semester pitted the Rhode Island College Anchormen against seven other teams from Southern New England. This is the first invitation the RIC club had into the Bridgewater Tournament and didn't disappoint with a 2nd place finish.

Play began with an early match against the Bridgewater State Visigoths. Both teams fought valiently as it proved to be a defensive battle. The lone points of the match came in the first half as Brian Flamand capitalized on a penalty conversion which placed the Anchormen to a 3 - 0 advantage.

The second half of the match kept the Anchormen in their half of the field the majority of the time. Over 20 minutes was played with the Visigoths challenging the RIC men within 10 meters from their endzone, each time the Anchormen sending Bridgewater away empty handed.

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Second round, RIC matched up against Weaton College. Weaton jumped to a quick 5 - 0 lead in the first few minutes of the match. Quick to answer was Brian Flamand with a nice setup pass from Ryan Duggan for the try. The conversion kick was nothing short of spectacular when Brian opted for a drop kick from the sideline and placed the Anchormen ahead 7 - 5.

A few minutes later, Jay Giroux drove in for a second try, with the conversion kick being successful made the lead 14 - 5. The game ended with the score 14 - 10 and placed the club into the championship round against Springfield College.

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Unfortunately, the finals proved to be a let down as Springfield leaped to a 21 point lead. There were a few injuries in the scrum positions that led the referee to call for uncontested scrums as the pack collapsed dangerously. There isn't much for the way of highlights from this game accept the fact that the team didn't give up.

The game ended with Brian, again, converting a penalty opportunity to make the final score 21-3

Overall, a very successful weekend. The rookies that played last semester now know what it takes to win, now they will learn what it means to be consistent.

Alumni Match
March 30, 2002

his year face a year of redemption for the Alumni of Rhode Island College. Last Year proved disheartening with a 28 - 0 loss to the 2001 Club team.

This year was a different story. Several seniors left the team last year and joined the Alumni this year in combination with a greater turnout by the Alumni.

The event was a great one. With the Alumni maintaining the advantage the majority of the match, the 2002 team showed excellent defensive coverage the whole game. Gerry D'Arezzo led the pack with several fabulous tackles and steals from the Alumni. Providing offensive direction was lone Senior, Paul "PJ" Lague at scrumhalf. Excellent communication between PJ and flyhalf, Ryan Duggan, kept the club in the game the whole match.

The Alumni provided itself several opportunities to score with Rod Poland leading several drives down the field. Providing support was Bill Spinelli and Brian "Sgetti" McCormick. The forwards sustained control by way of stealing several scrumdowns and key tackles throughout the match. The lone offensive score came off of a penalty by PJ, Dan "Rudy" Saccoccio took advantage of the situation and caught the 2002 Anchormen on their heels and ran in for the try to end the first half.

The match ended with the score of 5 - 0 and the Alumni walking away with the win. This year proved to be the Alumni annual event more successful than the previous years and will look forward to future events to be even better.

The 2002 Team would like to thank all the parents, fans, and alumni for taking part in this great annual event and hope for your return next year and each event.

Alumni Warmup
March 23, 2002

t seems that the semester is about to get into action with a cordial warm-up of the Rhode Island College's Men's Rugby Club against the Alumni of years past. While the interaction was short-lived, much was proven to this semester's club. A decent mixture of veterans and rookies made for confusion and moments of hope. Only a small handful of Alumni attended the weekend's event, but helped the team get into match shape.

This coming weekend's 3rd Annual Alumni Match should prove to be quite entertaining as the Alumni will be playing to avenge last year's 28 - 0 loss. For the most part, it will be the same teams facing each other, so there is much bad blood between the two. The results will be posted on Sunday.