Roger Williams is enjoying its foray into a new conference, as the Hawks have started 2-0 in the Rugby Northeast, defeating Providence in the opening weekend, and then slamming UMass Lowell 46-12 this past weekend.

Flyhalf Jedu Armar scored 16 points for the Hawks, kicking four conversions and a penalty, and scoring a try. Meanwhile, captain and No. 8 Luke Bradley led the team in tackles and scored two tries.

RWU is a school-funded club sport, one of those as-good-as-varsity programs, and the Hawks went 7-0 in the Colonial Coast last year before beating Central Connecticut State in the national play-in. They lost in the Round of 16 to Salisbury, but decided to move to the stronger RNE Conference for 2015. 

Photos by Scott McDavid https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmcdavid

"We have a deep team this year especially in our forward pack," said RWU Coach Chris Palombo. "All of our starters were major contributors in last year sweet-16 run. That experience in the system is paying off early in the season. We have a long way to go to be where we want at seasons end but we are off to a good start."

Bentley also moved to 2-0 with a 50-12 defeat of Holy Cross. Things look good for RWU going forward, as the Hawks face 0-2 Stonehill this coming weekend, while Bentley takes on the wounded Lowell squad. 

In a game that everyone will be looking at, Southern Connecticut (1-0) visits Bryant. While Bryant is 1-1, they defeated Providence College this past weekend, and their 12-5 loss to Bentley was about as close as you can get.

So while Rugby Northeast is once again very competitive, it looks as if Roger Williams and Bentley could be 3-0 going into the October 3 game between the two at RWU’s Bristol, RI home.