Williamstown, Mass.—Coming off a forfeit victory over Franklin Pierce last weekend, the Norsemen Rugby Football Club of Plymouth State University continued their success with a hard fought win over Williams College on Saturday, 28-10, at Williams.
Fullback Joe Irvine (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored twice for the Norsemen. Inside center Mike Armstrong (Nashua, N.H.) also put added to the scoreboard with two scores of his own, pushing the visiting Norsemen past Williams College.
Fly half Mike Howes (Amherst, N.H.), #10, was proud of his squad as both teams struggled through the wet weather and slippery conditions in Williams College’s Rugby pitch, “As a team it was a solid performance, scrappy with a good amount of handling errors due to wet conditions,” Howes said. Similar to the problems with their performance two weeks ago against Amherst, PSU’s Norsemen are still dealing with young players learning the craft of Rugby. Despite their lack of experience with the sport, though, Howes was pleased with his team’s performance. “We were dominant the whole game,” he said.
Howes makes the Norsemen’s goals for the remainder of the season clear. He believes that working together will help their overall play. “(We) need to gain more experience in the forwards, which can only happen with practices and game experience.”
The win propels the Norsemen into playoff contention, as they compete with Keene State for a regular season second place finish. They will compete against Keene State, tomorrow, in Keene.