Endicott College’s Men’s rugby team sits undefeated in the Colonial Coast Conference, after beating Wheaton 57-17 last week.

With Caleb McMullin and John Clavin playing well, the Endicott squad is pushing 4-0 Salve Regina in the men’s DII conference.

According to Coach Bob Ryman, the strong record for the Gulls is due to recruiting.

Endicott's unity (above) and defense have helped them to a 3-0 conference record.

“Numbers, numbers, numbers,” said Ryman. “Both the men and the women have recruited heavily over the last year. Both teams were very undersized both in numbers and in physical stature. They are still on the smaller side physically, but not as dramatically as in past years. The numbers just ups the intensity and focus at practice. These kids have always practiced hard but it's just difficult to get the focus and intensity when you have low numbers.”

While the Beverly, Mass. college team has not been able to get any freshman players with high school experience, what Ryman has been able to do is get them all playing with a single purpose.

“There is no one superstar,” said Ryman. “We have 20-plus guys who are playing very good rugby and, perhaps more importantly, they are playing together as a team.”

There’s no special tactical approach for the Gulls. Ryman said he likes his team to be good at whatever the opposition is not.

“If they have lazy forwards, we spread the field and bang the rucks,” he said. “If their forwards are making it across, we send a couple of loosies out and spin it to the backs. We spend a lot of time in practice focusing on tackling and rucking, which is nothing new, but it's becoming a strong suit for us.”

Coming up this weekend, Endicott faces 3-1 Plymouth State in a key clash for the Gulls and the Friars both. Plymouth State is coming off their first conference loss of the season, 29-5 to Salve Regina, and will want to rebound if they want a shot at winning the conference.

Then a week later, Endicott visits Salve for the game that will likely decide who wins the Colonial Coast.

“Our next two matches will be a good test,” said Ryman. “We'll see if they can measure up against some nationally-ranked teams. I'm hoping that the new guys have enough experience to compete at that level.”