Bonnies learn from past mistakes to pick up first win
After facing early-season losses to Army and Navy, the St. Bonaventure men’s rugby team’s hard work finally paid off with a 74-20 win over University at Buffalo on family weekend.
Head coach Andrew Tui Osborne said the team took a mental approach in the week leading up to the game, setting individual and team goals, while also focusing on the playbook.
Senior captain and scrum-half, Eamonn Matthews, added that watching film was a part of this mental preparation.
“We really looked at our film from the Navy and Army games before the Buffalo game,” Matthews said. “We pointed out the areas we were doing well in and we emphasized the areas we needed to improve on all week.”
Junior wing, Chaz Schwenk, said the team starts the week focused and moves on from there.
“This past week and the weeks before have been strictly business,” said Schwenk. “We train four times a week, watch film twice a week and we lift and condition three times a week. This is all on top of schoolwork and study hall hours in the library.”
Starting Saturday’s game with five handling errors in the first 10 minutes, the team was able to bounce back by adjusting on the pitch, said Osborne. “Just seeing them having fun with putting together what we learned at practice was rewarding,” said Osborne.
Osborne said that one of the team’s biggest problems in the past has been playing its opposition’s game and not its own. This is one area that Schwenk believed the team improved in, helping them get the win.
“We did a good job imposing our game on UB, making UB adapt to us and not the other way around, which is something we need to do here on out,” said Schwenk.
Moving forward, Osborne said there’s still a lot of work and mental preparation to do and the team will focus on putting together a solid showing from start to finish.
“80 percent of our performance is based on how we prepare mentally and going into the game with a focused mindset,” Osborne said.
While happy with the team’s win over UB, Matthews added that there is still work to be done in preparation for tougher upcoming games.
“We all recognize that there are a ton of areas we need to improve on if we want to beat teams like Penn State, Iona and Notre Dame,” said Matthews. “We haven’t been executing nearly as well as we have wanted and we’ve still been able to compete with top 10 teams like Army and Navy.”
On top of being family weekend on campus, the game against UB also served as the team’s homecoming game as well as its senior game, honoring the 11 seniors prior to kickoff.
“It was awesome to win that game for all of the parents, friends and fans that were at the game,” said Matthews. “We’ve gotten a ton of support these last two games and it has really meant a lot to us players.”
All of the families were invested and spent time planning the event to honor the seniors, said Osborne.
“It was a huge event,” Osborne said. “It was probably one of the best days on campus for the men’s rugby team.”
Following the game, the players and their families came together for a pig roast, which was organized by the parents. Osborne described the way old parents interacted with new ones, as well as alumni and the players.
“It was a great vibe and good environment for everyone to socialize and get to know one another as a family,” Osborne said.
The team will look to face Wheeling Jesuit University on the road this Saturday, Sept. 22.
“We are going to do something special this year and I encourage everyone to stay tuned,” Schwenk said.
By Morgan Hoffman, Features Assignment Editor
hoffmam16@bonaventure.edu
