St. Bonaventure University

Survive and advance. This far along in a national tournament, nothing else matters.

St. Bonaventure (7-3), ranked No. 3 in the latest National Collegiate Rugby Division I poll, held off Thomas More University (6-3) on Saturday, 30-24, to advance to the NCR Championship semifinals for the fourth straight year.

The Bonnies will face a familiar foe in the final four. SBU edged Brown on the last play of the match in 2023 to reach the title game, but lost to Brown, 14-9, in the national semis in 2022.

Brown, ranked No. 2 in NCR’s latest poll, defeated Walsh, 23-15, Saturday to advance to the semifinals against the Bonnies at 1 p.m. Dec. 7 at Penn State-Berks. Top-ranked Queens University will face No. 7 Wheeling in the other semifinal.

The winners move on to the national title game Dec. 14 in Houston. SBU won the 2021 national title over Penn State and lost the title game in 2023 to Notre Dame College.

St. Bonaventure jumped to a 10-0 lead 15 minutes into Saturday’s game on the strength of two bursts down the left sideline by Mehdi Merah and Troy Heroldt.

By halftime, the Bonnies seemed firmly in control, the final score of the half coming on a spectacular kick-ahead by Dylan Walsh that Eddie Nelson chased down with a brilliant sprint to give SBU a 20-5 lead. Tanya Takaendisa added the third try of the half for the Bonnies.

But Thomas More didn’t back down, cutting the lead to 20-19 just 15 minutes into the second half.

“Seems that we do like to make things a little more difficult than it needs to be,” Coach Danny Neighbour said with a laugh. “The message going into the second half, even though we were dominant for much of the first half, was that it was nil-nil. But we had some bad decision making and got pretty sloppy to let them crawl back in it.

SBU’s Lukas Otineru answered to make it 25-19, but the Saints came dangerously close to scoring and potentially taking the lead with a successful conversion when they spent several minutes within yards of the try zone.

A Saints’ knock-on, however, gave the Bonnies a scrum down, and their eventual march down the field led to a try by Jacob Brennan with 6:45 left to give them some needed breathing room.

“That was kudos to our defensive line holding well and being patient until they finally made a mistake,” Neighbour said.

Thomas More added a try in the final seconds to make the final 30-24.

In the end, Neighbour said, “A win’s a win, even though it was messy win. What’s great about these boys is that when the final whistle blew, they knew they had underperformed. The celebration for reaching the semifinals again was kind of suppressed. They know they’re capable of playing better.”

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).