Two play-in spots are decided in NCR's D1 after Saturday's games.

Both of the Rugby East teams in action Saturday won. St. Bonaventure beat Dartmouth and Walsh beat Indiana. Kutztown plays Wheeling on Sunday.

Middle-Game Surge Sees Bonnies Through

St. Bonaventure signaled their intention to play wide early, but they ran into penalty trouble in the first part of the game.

A lineout-and-maul resulted in an early try for Dartmouth and a penalty made it 10-0 Big Green midway through the first half. Dartmouth was doing well to keep Bonnies in check and frustrate their attack.

But a couple of penalties in a row led to a tap move for Bonnies and a try for No. 8 Rocco Burdett.

Dartmouth was learning quickly that they needed to execute at a high percentage to win this game. A not straight throw in the lineout at midfield resulted in a lineout win for Bonnies and a nifty run from scrumhalf Scott Wilson before he passed to flyhalf Wilson Koina, who raced in to score. 

Bonnies now led 12-10.

With time winding down in the first half Bonnies put Dartmouth under pressure and the Big Green committed another completely avoidable penalty. Dylan Walsh, on the field early because Harry Healy had suffered a head knock, slotted the tough kick and the teams changed ends with St. Bonaventure up 15-10.

Right off the second-half kickoff St. Bonaventure struck. Wing Sy Mendenhall intercepted a pass, raced to the line, was dragged down, and managed to offload off the deck to Manu Taula. Try Bonnies.

A holding-on penalty forced by Mendenhall then led to Walsh getting another kick over. A bit of a broken play sequence led to the fourth St. Bonaventure try.

With the ball rolling loose after a missed pass, hooker and captain Reynard Boshoff picked up and charged straight ahead. He got his team reorganized and the ball went wide to fullback Troy Heroldt, who scored in the corner.

Now it was 28-10 and Bonnies was in relatively control. Dartmouth did answer with a try to make it a two-score game, but Walsh added a penalty to keep the Big Green at arm’s length.

Two more late scores and St. Bonaventure cruised to the NCR Round of 16. Walsh getting the scoreboard ticking over so well earned him player-of-the-game honors. Mendenhall featured heavily in attack and was effective over the ball, too. 

"Credit to Dartmouth, who had a very tough pack and gave us a huge test in the scrum," said St. Bonaventure Head Coach Danny Neighbour. "We’ll look to improve in that area this week. We’ve known we were a dangerous attacking team ever since our preseason camp. We’ve just struggled with consistency. But these last few weeks we’ve started to really click, at training and now in games. I’m excited for what’s in front of us."