For Bonnies, they controlled the flow of the game from the get-go to beat Walsh 33-8.
This was a stark turnaround from the teams' last meeting, which was a tie. For Bonnies Head Coach Danny Neighbour, this was all part of the process.
"The lads are getting hot at just the right time and as I told them at halftime, you’re showing and growing into a championship team each and every week. "
The difference from two months ago when they tied the Cavaliers 25-25? Defense.
"Defensively we are so tough," continued Neighbour. "They have real deep trust in each other now which is a huge boost to how aggressively you can defend. One through 23 the guys make hits, which is a real feather in our cap because we are often the smaller side physically. But it speaks volumes to our structure and technique."
As for the actual game, the forwards controlled the tempo and the point of contact. Walsh is a physical team but, for Bonnies, we knew we couldn’t just get in a bar fight with them," said Neighbour. "They are great at challenging the breakdown and applying a lot of pressure. We knew we had to be sound with our breakdown work from Carries to groundwork. We also knew if we could attack different parts of the field we felt we’d have a good chance."
That vision fell to Noah Edwards at flyhalf, scrumhalf Troy Heroldt, and Koen Webb at fullback.
"Noah showed great control in game management and execution of our plan," said Neighbour. "Kicking to apply pressure as well as relieving pressure. Along with Koen Webb at fullback, they are great weapons to have in the kick game."
Edwards also didn't miss from the tee and that helped for him to be named player of the game.
"Changing the point of an attack was important after our last game where we were too one dimensional in the second half was a big change," explained Neighbour. "The lads are so excited to meet Queens again after our last game with them, where we felt like we’d let ourselves down in the first half with a very slow start. In hindsight, probably the gut check we needed to revisit some things that we needed to focus on. We’ve done that and I think that’s shows."
St. Bonaventure beat Queens 32-29 in their last meeting, with Edwards scoring a try at the death and converting to seal it. But that was back on September 20. Things have changed since then ... but how much?
