BY RYAN O'CONNOR
Don Dumais is a dentist who plays rugby.
But despite the stereotypes, the Bow resident said there are few teeth lost in the sport, though he can remember a few instances where one player’s mouth met another player’s skull, and the result wasn’t pretty.
“Most guys are pretty good about wearing their mouth guards, so you don’t see too much of that anymore,” he said.
After playing in college, Dumais was only a spectator for many years until he was recently convinced by one of his dental hygienists to join the Amoskeag Rugby Football Club.
“It’s been great,” he said. “It’s a good bunch of guys who work so hard and quietly go about their business and are about as good a team as you’ll find in the U.S.”
In 2006, the Amoskeag Rugby Football Club finished New England Division 1 runner-up.
This year everyone involved, from the players right up to the club president, expect the squad to finish on top.
“We’re one of the smallest markets and have one of the best teams,” said president Bob Bishop of Bedford, who played more than a decade with the club before retiring two years ago.
“Last year it was us, New Haven and the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, so as a small-market team, bragging rights are pretty important.”
If bragging rights are their goal, they got an early start on the competition, winning the Premier Division of the Can-Am rugby tournament – the largest in North America – in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake in New York on Aug. 12.
With more than 120 teams competing from the United States and Canada, New Hampshire’s only USA Rugby Division 1 squad showed it’s not the size of the state that counts.
Amoskeag began tournament play with a close contest, beating the Penn State Alumni team, 13-12, before defeating Ottawa, 7-0, via forfeit.
In the semifinals, Amoskeag played a much larger Old Rhinos team from New York and grabbed a 38-12 victory, which set up a rematch with Penn State Alumni in the finale.
Though the opposition took an early 8-0 lead, captain Russ Dolan answered, scoring on a break started by MVP Chris Pierce of New Boston. Amoskeag led 10-8 at the half. Behind 10 kicked second-half points – two penalties and a conversion – from Pierce, Amoskeag won, 18-8, to take its first Can-Am title since it started competing in the tournament in 1992.
“This is one of the biggest achievements in the history of the club,” said coach John Banarhall of Auburn. “I couldn’t be prouder of the way the boys played this week against such strong competition. This is a great beginning to the upcoming Division 1 season.”
And that’s the way the players are looking at the successful trip to New York – as the start of something special.
“We’re just scratching the surface of what could be,” said Pierce, who runs Balance Physical Therapy and Human Performance in Windham.
Amoskeag kicks off its season against Albany on Sept. 8 at the Dartmouth Rugby Complex, though they play most of their home games in Pembroke.
Founded in 1984, the club, now features more than 200 local and international players, including an under-19 squad and an Old Boys club for players older than 35.
“We get a good product out there and just try to expand throughout New England and get it out there that we exist and get some of the youthful players involved,” said Bedford’s Bishop. “The 12- to 18-year old sector is the fastest growing in the U.S.”
It’s the club’s A and B squads, primarily players 20 to 35 years old, competing for the New England title in 2007.
“The fitness it takes to play at this level is just incredible. I mean, you basically need to be a top-level college athlete to make our A squad,” said Dumais. “It’s an 80-minute match, and there’s really not a lot of stoppage of play.”
Should Amoskeag win the New England Rugby Union, it advances to a national tournament and compete against 15 other teams from around the United States.
But the club is known for its work off the field as well.
During the past several years, Amoskeag has stayed active in the community, including running the “Give Blood, Play Rugby” blood drive with the American Red Cross, the “It Takes Balls to Fight Cancer” fundraiser for Lance Armstrong’s Ride for the Roses, and the “Bet on a Cure” fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen foundation.
The club also became New Hampshire Adopt a Road sponsors for 2006 and 2007, cleaned up yards for Manchester seniors, and worked with the Manchester Habitat for Humanity on sprucing up a local project site.
One Habitat for Humanity member claimed the club was the hardest working and most efficient crew to ever volunteer for the Manchester branch of the organization, said public relations officer Tom Turner, a former Trinity High School teacher who helped set up the youth team in 1997.
“The Amoskeag Rugby Club is very proud of its record of success on the field, but equally proud of its involvement within the local community,” said Turner.
For additional information on the club, visit www.rugbynh.com.