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.

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, with more than 120 teams – in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake in New York on Aug. 12.

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 faced a much larger New York’s Old Rhinos team and took 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.

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.

“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.

For details, visit rugbynh.com.