Navy survived a scare to beat Notre Dame College 50-19 in Rugby East action.
Regardless of the final score, NDC put Navy under some serious pressure and scored two early tries to take a 14-0 lead in the first part of the first half and a 19-15 lead at the break.
The Falcons used the wind intelligently and were quick to ship the ball to space when it was on offer.
But Navy didn't panic and when they got some field position and some ball they started to work their pattern. The forwards were patient and powerful and worked over a couple of tries.
NDC were penalized more than Navy and that played into Navy's hands, as did yellow cards for repeated offenses.
With halfback Avion Ganse playing very well and the Navy maul operating nicely, the Midshipmen finally took the lead late in the first half. They rolled in the second half, but they knew they had been shaken a bit.
For Notre Dame College, those opening 20 minutes had to have them feeling good; they certainly had rugby observers thinking about a famous result. As it is, this was Notre Dame College's first conference loss of the season.
Also in the Rugby East, St. Bonaventure held off Mary Washington 12-8.
"Oh man, these guys want to give their coach a heart attack!" joked Bonnies Head Coach Tui Osborne. "Seriously while we talk about being up for every game, having three games on the road does affect the preparation. So it was good to be at home and that settled us a bit. While we still made a lot of errors, we played smarter in pockets of the game."
The St. Bonaventure defense was very good, especially when defending their line, and that grittiness saw them through.
"That's a very good Mary Washington team and it sets us up for a very good NDC team ... on the road," said Osborne.
