The St. Bonaventure University men’s rugby team defeated the Notre Dame College Falcons Saturday, 32-12. The Bonnies entered this game as No. 13 in the nation, with Notre Dame just one spot behind at No. 14, according to D1ARugby.com.
The Bonnies came out strong from the start, as Charles Schwenk put the Bonnies on the board just five minutes in. Halfway through the first half, Notre Dame scored to make the score 7-5. The Bonnies responded back quickly. With nine minutes left in the first half, captain Jack Wiles scored to give the Bonnies a 17-5 advantage.
On the last play of the half, Josh Smith scored a penalty goal from 40 meters out to put the Bonnies up 20-5 at the break.
Halfway into the second half, the Bonnies took advantage of a Notre Dame mistake and Evan Titus put in the score. After a Notre Dame score a few minutes later to bring it within two scores, Jon Rodriguez scored to cap it off, extending the lead to 32-12.
Sophomore Jon Rodriguez has been satisfied with his team and his personal play to this point.
“I did what I had to do for the team. There’s always space to work on toward the game. I’m just trying to go out there and give it my all for the team,” Rodriguez said. “It was a great booster to get a win. There’s always spots to fix little things that can make a big impact.”
Head coach Andrew Tui Osborne was happy with how his team got the victory, but wasn’t completely happy with how they did.
“I definitely feel like we left some points on the board due to our lack of discipline,” Osborne said. “We are really happy with the win, but we are not content.”
Osborne thanked Notre Dame College for coming and for a “good challenge on a hot day.”
The Bonnies are looking ahead to their next match against the No. 8 team in the country, Penn State. The Bonnies are ready for the tough opponent, and they are getting excited.
“Penn State is a really big name so even if you don’t know about rugby, Penn State is still Penn State,” Rodriguez said.
Osborne said that the Bonnies need to work on the “little things” for their upcoming match against Penn State, such as body height going into contact and some of their set plays that they didn’t complete this past week against Notre Dame College.
Notre Dame College hosted Penn State on September 14; the Nittany Lions won, 31-25.
The Bonnies will have a bye this week and then host Penn State on Oct. 5, at 1 p.m.
By Tom Seipp, Contributing Writer
seipptw19@bonaventure.edu
