Good Start in ARC for Cardinals, Bonnies
Good Start in ARC for Cardinals, Bonnies
The newly-minted ARC conference kicked off this weekend with St. Bonaventure and Wheeling logging impressive wins.
This conference was created by five NCR teams that used to be in the Rugby East, plus Wheeling out of Big Rivers. This conference will (as we understand) get five playoff spots into NCR's D1 postseason, so it is expected to be competitive.
Wheeling Speeds Past Kutztown
Led by an excellent lead-by-example performance from vice captain and flanker Navin Couch, Wheeling defeated Kutztown 36-17.
Wheeling is known traditionally for their quick-strike ability, but they are more than that and know how to get the hard graft done, too. Locks Magoshi Mashigo and Benjamin Andrews were excellent in that aspect of play.
Meanwhile, with the graduation of Joe Iye, Wheeling lost an important leader in the midfield. New Head Coach Maxwell Hamilton saw that taken care of.
"Alex Nyamunda was pushing himself harder than ever," Hamilton told GRR.
Overall, Wheeling did well to prepare for the physical battle.
"We knew their forwards would be well prepared," said Hamilton. "Our second half scrums looked good and we were able to match their energy. Our backline is unmatched; they were able to find tries when we needed too, especially playing down two men. We need to work harder inside our own half to keep pressure on the opposition and drive them back out and stay disciplined."
Next up for Wheeling is a home game against a very tough Walsh team. Walsh, for their part, were beaten handily by West Point in a non-conference match. That was a humbling result after a good win over Notre Dame last week.
St. Bonaventure Eyes Another Run
The other game in the ARC was Bonnies against Belmont Abbey, with Bonaventure took 40-11.
With the experienced halfback combination of Scott Wilson and Koen Webb working smartly together, Bonnies scored six tries. Defending Prusmack Award winner as the top collegiate 7s player, Manu Taula was dynamic on attack and was a hard-hitting physical presence on defense. Tanya Takaendisa also rattled bones on D.
Eddie Nelson scored two tries on the day.
But the thing that pleased Head Coach Danny Neighour most was his forwards.
"The pack looked good in the scrum," he said. "And they set the backs up to be able to play in space."
So, a good start to one of the favorites, and here's how the standings look early doors.
| ARC | W | L | T | PA | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| St. Bonaventure | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 11 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Wheeling | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 17 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Queens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Walsh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kutztown | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 36 | -19 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Belmont Abbey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 40 | -29 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
