GRR: ARC
St. Bonaventure pulled out a tough win over Queens in Charlotte, NC Saturday, scoring on the final play of the game to come back to win in this ARC conference match in NCR's D1.
Queens got an early try when captain and tighthead prop Roan Shawver ran hard onto a tips pass and was through for a long gallop.
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.
University of San Diego took one more step toward the CRAA D1AA semifinals with an impressive victory over American River College.
American River College won the California D1AA North conference Saturday with a 45-21 win over San Jose State in the conference final.
"It was an incredibly tough match where both teams played well," said ARC Head Coach Zach Swithenbank.
The Americas Rugby Championship kicks off in just over two weeks, and this is only the third year of the tournament as a full test-match event.
The ARC used to be for teams just below full-test status, but was elevated for the 2016 season (minus Argentina, whose Argentina XV is not a full international team, so no caps for those players and no caps for the team that plays them).