Providence opens the 2011 Spring Season with a bang downing Brown 42-19

Providence faced off against Brown University in their annual local derby at Brown on a beautiful, albeit windy, late winter afternoon. This was Providence’s first run outside as a team since October, and the team showed up with over thirty-five active players for their first hit-out. Reminiscent of the Bad News Bears due to some uniform oversights, the team took the field in their warm-ups while awaiting the arrival of the match jerseys. Despite their tattered appearance, the play was sharp and impressive from the opening kick-off. Providence received the opening kick-off, and was able to put multiple phases together off the bat. Justin Deveau opened the scoring at just over four minutes with a crash run that broke through several would-be Brown tacklers. Eric Rothy converted to make it 7-0 early. Providence then returned for another score, this time by flanker Brad Crandall just four minutes later. Rothy again converted to put the boys ahead 12- 0 in under ten minutes of play. Deveau took another chance to highlight why he is one of the more dominate forwards in New England, taking a line-out ball forty meters for his second try of the day at the twenty-minute mark. Rothy, accurate all day, again hit the conversion to bring the lead to 19-0. New member Peter Scott scored next from the fullback position, where he was dynamic and dangerous on counter-attack all afternoon. This one was off a Brown penalty, and Peter took advantage of their scattered coverage to find a seam and have at it. A tough corner kick proved unsuccessful for the conversion, but Providence took a 24-0 lead into halftime.

The second half was much more even and contested by Brown, and Providence experimented with some line-up variations all the way through. Providence worked their calls and set pieces with efficiency, and counted on all fifteen players to lend a hand. Hooker Gerry D’Arezzo was sharp as a pin at the line-outs, and the scrum was 100% on the day on their put-ins. Next on the scoring sheet was stand-out prop Jim Cunningham at the forty-fifth minute. Jim crashed over from five meters out, and it appeared no one from Brown was willing to get in his way. Next up was another prop, as Alan Nunes took a nice pop pass in for a score between the posts. Rothy again slotted the conversion, and the lead was now 36-5. The final score for Providence came from Justin Deveau again, and from a fantastic series of play, seeing Providence put together nearly ten phases before reaching the try line. Rothy again added the two, and Providence ended the scoring at 42 points on the day. The defense let up a bit in the final fifteen minutes, and Brown was skillful in exploiting the gaps. They added two late tries to put 19 points on the board- an excellent tally given the strength of the Providence side.

The PRFC B-side picked up where the A’s left off, and put on a dominating performance. Zach Rohlfs, in his first match at hooker, proved ready and controlled the set pieces all day. The backline took advantage of a size and strength advantage to run through would- be tacklers, and the forwards were simply too hard to counter for the college side. Lock Sal DeMartino was a magnet for the ball at line-outs, and took crash after crash in the open play forcing the selection committee to take notice. Prop Joe Gattuso also put his name on the register with hard play all around the field.

Next up the boys take on Division 1 South Shore- a match that will serve as a true measuring stick for the boys.