On the backs of a stout defense and the leg of a sensational South American, St. Bonaventure’s men’s rugby team is one win away from its second national championship.

The Bonnies (8-2-1 overall), ranked No. 3 in the latest NCR poll, dominated No. 4 Walsh University, 33-8, Saturday afternoon at Butler, Pennsylvania, to advance to the National Collegiate Rugby D-I title game for the third time in the last five years.

The Bonnies, who tied Walsh in the regular season, will play No. 1 Queens University at 6 p.m. EST Saturday, Dec. 13, at Sabercats Stadium in Houston. The Bonnies defeated Penn State for the national title in 2021 and lost to Notre Dame College in 2023.

Queens defeated Belmont Abbey, 19-15, in the second semifinal Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. All four semifinalists are from the Atlantic Rugby Conference.

“We played another smart game of rugby today,” Coach Danny Neighbour said. “Our kicking game is applying a lot of pressure, and matched with our ability to defend so well we ask a lot of our opponents to overcome.”

The win comes on the heels of the Bonnies’ 51-7 quarterfinal thrashing of No. 2 Brown, the defending national champion, on Nov. 22. (A new poll hasn’t been released since the quarterfinals were played.)

Less than 2 minutes after the Bonnies were held up in the try zone, Niku Otineru bulled over the try line to give the Bonnies a lead they wouldn’t relinquish 16 minutes into the match. Noah Edwards’ conversion made it 7-0.

Just 4 minutes later, Reynard Boshoff scored on a relentless maul off a lineout, a try set up by a bruising tackle by Jacob Brennan directly after a Walsh lineout. Brennan drove the Walsh player back 10 yards and forced a fumble that the Bonnies recovered.

Edwards added three penalty kicks over the next 20 minutes, including one at the halftime horn, to give SBU a 23-0 lead. On the day, the native of Santiago, Chile, was perfect on seven kicks — three conversions and four PKs. He was named Man of the Match.

For the second match in a row, the Bonnies held a top 5 team in the nation to a single try.

“They just didn’t have an answer and had a lot of trouble finding holes or space to attack. I honestly love watching us play defense,” Neighbour said. “Our passion and pride in our jersey and our love for each other as teammates just shines through. We love defending and our mindset is that our defense is part of our attack.”

Troy Heroldt put an exclamation point on the match with a weaving 70-yard sprint through the Walsh defense with 3 minutes to play.

“Our forward pack was fantastic, too,” Neighbour said. “We dominated the scrum, stole lineouts, scored a great maul try. We got in a little trouble second half losing two guys quickly to yellow cards that put us under a lot of pressure, but even with 13 men we still stood up to the test. Credit to our finishers who came in and sealed the deal.”

Queens and St. Bonaventure split their two matches in the regular season.

The Bonnies won, 32-29, on the final play of the match Sept. 21, and Queens won, 26-22, in the ARC title game Nov. 7 when Mehdi Merah was held up in the try zone on the final play of the match.

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).