St. Bonaventure University

St. Bonaventure gets its first chance this weekend to qualify for the 2025 Collegiate Rugby Championship National 7s.

The Bonnies will be sending A and B teams to Landisville, Pennsylvania, for the 15^th annual Frostbite 7s. The tournament winner qualifies for the CRC National 7s April 25-27 at Boyds, Maryland.

The Bonnies’ A side plays Fordham, Indiana (Pa.) and Niagara on Saturday in the Premier Cup division. SBU’s B side will play East Stroudsburg, Bloomsburg and Penn State-Berks on Saturday in the Open Division.

Championship and consolation games will follow late Saturday and Sunday.

The Bonnies will play in three more 7s tournaments this spring: Wheeling 7s on March 22, Old Blue 7s at Mount Vernon on March 29, and Fairfield 7s on April 12. Old Blue and Fairfield are also qualifiers for the National 7s tournament.

IN OTHER MEN’S RUGBY NEWS:

Starting in the fall, St. Bonaventure’s 15s will be playing in a new league. Top Division I programs from Rugby East are joining forces with Wheeling University to establish the Atlantic Coast Rugby Conference (ACRC).

The ACRC will be home to six highly competitive, school-supported programs, including five teams from Rugby East and Wheeling, which transitions from the Big Rivers Conference as the easternmost member. It’s anticipated that additional teams will be added to the conference in the coming weeks.

The other four founding members of the ACRC are Belmont Abbey College, Kutztown University, Queens University and Walsh University.

The ACRC will align with National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) with the teams continuing to play a fall regular season and postseason schedule.

Queens reached the national finals in 2022 and 2024, while St. Bonaventure claimed its first national title in 2021 and returned to the championship match in 2023.

The new teams have also had great success in 7s, with Kutztown winning the 2022 Premier Cup national championship and Wheeling taking home the trophy in 2024.  

NCR will offer five automatic bids to ACRC teams for the 2025 national 15s playoffs.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).