The University of Rhode Island men’s rugby team remain undefeated in New England Collegiate Rugby Conference play Saturday after a dominant 42-22 victory over University of New Hampshire in at Student Rec Field in Durham, NH.

From the opening kickoff, Rhode Island pressed deep in the New Hampshire end and remained in attack there for almost the entire first 10 minutes of the half. Repeated penalties on UNH were offset by URI knock-ons, but eventually resulted in 2 penalty kicks by fullback Tom Morini. Minutes later, inside center Dan Kando looped a back movement to score in the left corner, and when a clearing kick from URI was mishandled by UNH shortly thereafter, wing Nick Saccoccio pounced on the loose ball and fed center Sav Varca, who outflanked the defense at midfield and raced to the posts for another try, Morini converting. Varca later broke a long run from deep in the RI end past midfield and found Morini pursuing off his hip to finish the run, with Morini’s conversion putting URI up 25-0 after 28 minutes. And soon after, URI, who dominated the lineouts all day, stole a UNH lineout at midfield and moved the ball through 3 phases and 4 off-loads, flanker Ben Amerault going the final 20 meters for another converted try. With some aggressive tackling and running, UNH moved into the URI and put center Robert Evans into the right corner for a try shortly before half, but URI center Dan Kando responded by breaking from his own end to midfield and found wing Saccocio following, who dashed the remaining distance to the end zone to give URI a halftime lead of 37-5.

Rhode Island made a number of substitutions at halftime, which seemed to disrupt the team’s organization, and New Hampshire took advantage, converting an ill-advised URI pass under pressure into a pick-and-go try by scrum half David Smith 1 minute into the half and a penalty try awarded due to a high tackle following a strong run by prop Matthew Hamel at the 65-minute mark, but in between, URI dominated possession, and any thoughts of a comeback evaporated when URI fullback Morini chased down his own kick ahead in-goal for a try at the 70-minute mark. Again UNH responded strongly, scoring one last try with a minute to go when lock Matthew Kears ripped the ball from a URI forward and rolling into the in-goal, but it was too little, too late. Fly half Brain Shott was chosen Man of the Match for URI.