In a stunning tale of two halves, St. Bonaventure stormed past visiting Wheeling, 50-25, Saturday afternoon to secure a berth in the Atlantic Rugby Conference title game.

Down 25-14 after a first half filled with penalties and a costly turnover late in the half that resulted in a Wheeling try, the Bonnies blitzed the Cardinals with five second-half tries and didn’t yield another point.

Ranked No. 1 in the nation in the latest National Collegiate Rugby Division I poll, the Bonnies (4-0-1 league) clinched a berth in the ARC title game with the victory and Walsh’s loss Saturday to Belmont Abbey. Wheeling (1-2-1 league) came into Saturday’s game ranked No. 5 in the nation.

In a season marked by the resilience of his club to not be daunted by any deficit, Coach Danny Neighbour said the message at halftime was simply to “stay patient and clean up the contact area.” 

“If we kept possession for more phases, we knew we could go forward. We just had to trust in the plan and our ability to play within our structure and we did just that,” Neighbour said.

The Bonnies didn’t waste much time getting back in the game after intermission, scoring just 4 minutes into the half on a nifty short pass off a lineout from Reynard Boshoff to Tanya Takaendisa.

“We installed that as a special one-time strike and they executed it perfectly,” Neighbour said.

Just 3 minutes later, Boshoff scored off a lineout maul and Noah Edwards’ conversion from a severe angle gave the Bonnies the lead for good, 26-25. Edwards made six of seven conversions and closed the game with a penalty kick.

Rohan Welsh, Dan Lowther, Harry Healy, Sebastian Menges and Jonny Thomson also scored for the Bonnies. Thomson closed the try scoring with 4 minutes to play on a 45-yard sprint after ripping the ball away from a Wheeling player. 

“We had some fantastic effort on defense in the first half that kept us in the game and in the second half we executed most of what we had touched on during halftime,” Neighbour said. “We had a dominant performance from the pack in set pieces that led to several tries. It was a second half to be really proud of and it showed just how dangerous we are with the ball in hand.”

Lowther was named the Man of the Match, and Reagan Malloy and Rhys Cunningham were awarded the Stick of the Day for a double tackle that Neighbour said “set the tone for our defense.”

The Bonnies close the regular season Nov. 1 at home with a non-league match vs. former Rugby East rival Penn State.

About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).