Things got a little weird near the end of the Rugby Northeast Men’s DII season.

Once it became clear that Bentley and UMass-Lowell were going to be the top two teams, they started losing uncharacteristically. In fact, while the teams that won those games were still working hard and deserved to win, Bentley and Lowell know what was ahead of them and were resting tired or mildly injured starters.

That’s because it all comes down to Saturday in Lowell, Mass. There these two teams play the conference championship game to decide who gets to play Wisconsin-Whitewater in the DII Round of 16.

For Lowell, it’s been a bit of a battle, with them having lost to Bentley by a wide margin early in the season and beating Providence, Holy Cross, Bryant, and Stonehill all by close scores. Only a few times has the game been comfortable.

“With the young team we have - about half are freshman or sophomores - we've matured a lot since the season started,” said UMass-Lowell Head Coach Josh Skinner. “Both the forwards and the backs have started to come together, and we've finally been able to build some consistency with the 23-man roster as well.  Since the first training session during week three, I've made it a point to remind our guys weekly about the Bentley game, and the throttling they gave us.  We're putting out what we think is our best lineup of the year out there Saturday, and that we'll be able to produce a different outcome.”

Bentley Head Coach Brian Pendergast is a graduate of UMass-Lowell, and knows the program well. His task of late has been to keep the players engaged when they clinched a place in the final so early. What helped with that, he said, was the leadership on the team.

“The captains and the senior group does a really good job of keeping everyone focussed and so when we had all these freshmen come in, they saw the buy-in and bought in too,” said Pendergast.

Those captains would be prop Jonathan Mancini and fullback James Estes. Estes is an interesting story as he has continued to be a leader on the squad despite being out most of the season with an injury. He is expected to play this weekend.

“We have a good rivalry with Lowell,” added Pendergast. “We know they’re going to be tough on their own field. We have to keep possession and not turn the ball over and play smart. We’ll lead with our forwards like we have all year. But they have a really good pack, too, and will be fired up.”

For Bentley the issue has been injuries. They’ve lost players, only to see someone else fill in well.

“We’re a full squad, and it’s a really good group gelling together,” Pendergast said. “We have had guys just step in who just keep doing the job. Our defense has gotten a lot better the last couple of weeks partly because we’ve played against tough forward-oriented teams in Southern Connecticut and Bryant. That has helped us grow.”

The improved defense is in part due to a personnel change, with Brandon DiClementi moving from flanker to center. He partners with Dan Reardon in the midfield and, said Pendergast, "they are a powerful combination on offense and defense."

Skinner knows Bentley is a powerful combination everywhere.

“There's a reason Bentley's in 1st place in our conference.,” he said  “They have a great team which is led by their forward pack, and a couple of great players in their backline, specifically their 12 and 15.  You can't discount the job their coaches have done, either.”

See also our piece on UMass-Lowell's Matt Charest here:
http://www.goffrugbyreport.com/college-men/aircraft-charter-solutions-po...