BYU Takes the Wasatch Cup for the Third Straight Time
12 Mar 2008
This article has been written by the boys at BYU.
Provo, UT—In front a capacity crowd at BYU’s Helaman Field the Cougars were able to notch a third straight victory over the University of Utah and keep the Wasatch Cup in Provo yet again.
The game started in the favor of the Utes though as a Utah defender charged down a BYU kick, regathered and scampered the remaining 20 meters for the try under the post in the 5th minute of the game.
Another series of Utah possessions saw the Cougars give up a penalty in their own half and the Utes would convert for an early 10-0.
“We had a poor start,” said BYU head coach David Smyth, “We committed silly mistakes and give up some juvenile penalties early and then we were digging out from a 10 point deficit before we even saw the ball. We really can’t keep doing that.”
The Cougars weren’t about to roll over and let the game get away however. All-American prop Derek Smith led a Cougars first half comeback that ended with two barging tries of his own in the 15th and 23rd minutes.
One conversion made of the two attempts by wing Tim Steflik put the Cougars ahead with a narrow 12-10 lead.
After some more attacking rugby in he Utah half the Cougars were able to garner two penalty goals in the 31st and 35th minutes through the boot of Steflik. And the Cougars took the lead at half time 18-10.
“We were able to recover after a bad start;” Cougar captain Steve St.
After a string of kicking exchanges and mistakes by both teams early in the second half the Cougars hit pay dirt first with wing Vito Qaqa racing away from the Utah defenders for a 50 meter run following a Utah turn over. A missed conversion had BYU up 23-10 in the 50th minute.
The Utes however would rally behind a penalty goal and a converted try to narrow the gap to three with ten minutes to go.
The Utah surge came just moments after BYU No. 8 Viliami Vimahi was yellow carded for not wrapping up in a tackle in the 67th minute. With a man down the Utes took advantage to bring the score to 23-20.
Despite te extra man advantage for Utah the Cougars drove deep into the Utes half and with heavy pressure forced Utah into repeated penalties just meters from the goal line.
Opting to go for quick tap penalties and a scrum BYU was looking to put the game away in the dieing moments of the game and eat up the rest of the clock.
And with the timely return of Viliami from the sin-bin the Cougars were able to push over the a Utah 5 meter goal line scrum and Steve St. Pierre would dive on the loose ball in the end zone for the final BYU try of the game.
Steflik would convert and the game looked to be in little doubt at 30-20.
With the ensuing kick-off the Utes knocked on and the Cougars looked to kick the ball behind Utah defense from the ensuing scrum. The kick went awry and right into the hands of the defending Utah fullback who kicked the ball deep into the BYU territory.
Qaqa covered and kicked the ball into touch giving the Utes a lineout just meters from the Cougar goal line. From the ensuing lineout Utah was able to score their final try with no time left on the clock leaving the Wasatch Cup in Provo for another year.
The win gives the Cougars a bye past the Pacific Coast RFU playoffs and ticket straight into the USA Rugby Round of 16 in Albuquerque, NM. The win also marks the fourth win out of five Wasatch Cup matches against the Utes for the Cougars.
“It was a good victory today, not very accurate or precise but we’re a work in progress,” Smyth said in summing up his thoughts on his team’s performance, “We still have a lot of things to work out before we hit the playoffs. Luckily we have a few weeks with some good competition to allow us to work on those things and get our selves fit and ready.”
BYU hosts another instate rival that's a little closer to Provo in Utah Valley State College next Friday night at Helaman Field at 7pm. The Cougars previously met the Wolverines earlier this season in St. George coming out with a 67-0 win using a mixed 1st and 2nd XV side.
See more at BYU Rugby's Official Website.
