By Mike Specht
Staff Writer
The Bonnies will be pulling double duty in a rugby-filled weekend this Saturday. In part to expand their rugby repertoire and to increase their reputation as a premier rugby team in New York State, they will field a team in the Empire Rugby Sevens Championships this Saturday at the University at Buffalo.
While most rugby games consist of 15 players per team, that number is cut into more than half in sevens competition. They will compete against Stony Brook, Syracuse and Rutgers, with their first match at 1 p.m.
As the Bonnies prepare for the tournament, Coach Clarence Picard feels that the Bona ruggers have an uphill battle ahead of them against perennial sevens powerhouse Stony Brook.
“Stony Brook is the unquestionable favorite coming into the tournament,” Picard said. “They have a great coach and have a lot of experience in sevens play.”
With the tournament cancelled last year, Stony Brook is the defending champion after winning in 2011.
While preparing for this tournament, the team gained sevens experience with a 30-20 win over the South Buffalo Rugby Football Club March 23 at Father Conway Park in Buffalo. Greg Johnson, Jordan Farrant, John Sullivan and Andrew Metoyer all scored tries. Picard saw tangible improvements in the team’s sevens gameplay.
“We were great in restarts, getting our kicks back and giving us a greater chance of scoring,” Picard said. “Greg Johnson was key in that aspect of the game.”
Even though the Bonnies are anticipating a tough match from Stony Brook, Coach Picard is confident in his crew of seasoned veterans.
“Even though we’re not very experienced at sevens, we’re still a team of experienced competitors,” Picard said. “Guys like Alex Brussard, John Sullivan, Ryan Brennan and Jon Garbin have seen a lot of rugby and that experience will come through in crunch time.”
While some of the ruggers will be rucking at the University at Buffalo, the remainder of the team will be in Delaware Park in Buffalo, facing off against Canisius and Niagara in the Little Three Cup, starting at 12:30 p.m.
Known by Western New Yorkers as The Little Three, the rivalry between Canisius, Niagara and St. Bonaventure is always an important matchup for the schools’ teams, including rugby.
“This rivalry has a lot to do with university pride, since these are Western New York’s college teams,” Picard said.
As the Bonnies prepare for their rivals, they expect to come out victorious, but not without a strong fight from Niagara.
“Niagara will be a tough team,” Picard said. “Their program is on its way up, and they definitely are looking forward to beating St. Bonaventure.”
On March 23, the Bonnies came away as victors in the South Buffalo Collegiate Rugby tournament at Father Conway Park. With St. Bonaventure fielding a brown and white team in separate tournament pools, they actually met each other in the final, with brown winning 15-0. Brussard and Kevin Corley scored for the victors.
“It felt like a high-intensity scrimmage,” Picard said. “We want our top 40 guys to be among the best in the area.”
While the Bona ruggers gained valuable experience two weekends ago, they still stress improvement, as the team faces different tournaments tomorrow.
“We have a lot of work to do by Saturday, but it should be a good weekend overall,” Picard said.
