Roger Williams women's rugby club team posts perfect 4-0 mark en route to national crown
Caitlin Mallahan had her answer on the opening day of practice.
Roger Williams was fresh off a women’s rugby club national title in sevens, the small-sided games that serve as co-headliners with the full 15-player lineups. The Hawks gathered for the 2022-23 season with a typical mix of returning talent and curious newcomers hoping to extend their respective athletic careers in college.
“I pretty much ask them, ‘What do you want to do with this year? Do you want to win? Do you want to have fun?’” Mallahan said. “And their answer to me was, ‘We want to go all the way.’”
Last weekend in Maryland saw Roger Williams complete the journey for the second time. The Hawks stormed to a championship at the National Collegiate Rugby 7s, posting a perfect 4-0 mark and outscoring their opponents by a combined 111-10. Roger Williams grinded its way to a 10-5 victory over Colorado School of Mines to close out a perfect run.
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“We practice every day,” Mallahan said. “Leading up to the competition we practiced twice a day. But having that desire to win makes all the difference.”
Mallahan knows that culture well. She was a former player with the Hawks who stepped into a coaching role for the 2021-22 season. Full-time work as a special education teacher and finishing a master’s degree left precious little free time, but Mallahan was still committed to helping a host of former teammates reach the summit.
“There wasn’t a coach to step up, and I wasn’t going to leave those girls,” Mallahan said. “I knew how special they were.”
Balance was achieved partly through the outlet presented by the sport. Mallahan said just one of her current players was part of a rugby side in high school — the New Hampshire native was a basketball and softball star before enrolling at Roger Williams. She found herself needing some sort of outlet after arriving in Bristol, and rugby filled that vacancy in her undergraduate life.
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“They’re awesome athletes,” Mallahan said. “They say, ‘I don’t want to play sports when I go to school.’ Then they get to school and say, ‘I don’t know what to do with myself.’
“They miss that team, that camaraderie.”
The state’s Interscholastic League doesn’t formally sponsor girls rugby, but the Hawks had three Rhode Island natives on their roster this season — Cheyenne Besser (Coventry), Riley Dion (Bishop Feehan) and Rileigh Gouveia (North Kingstown). Roger Williams recruits its campus through Mallahan and current players. The sales pitch is simple — here's a chance to be fit, learn something new and take out some frustrations.
“Young women, we don’t get contact sports,” Mallahan said. “Hockey — there's no checking. Lacrosse. Everything is so limited in terms of women’s athletics and contact.
“The first time you hit somebody you’re like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ Guys have been getting it for years.”
Mallahan and her sister, Melissa, lead the coaching staff and have established a few basic tenets. Attention to detail and focus in practice are expected. Mastering the basics will allow for more time actually playing the game and implementing a few advanced concepts.
That approach has clearly paid dividends. The Hawks won their first two matches at nationals by a combined total of 75-0. Each was played in a driving rain, and previous practice sessions with wet balls — something straight out of Bill Belichick's playbook with the New England Patriots — was the latest example of what has transformed Roger Williams into a power.
“We’ve done this together,” Mallahan said. “One of the things she always says is, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’”
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Roger Williams University women's rugby club team wins national title
