MURRAY — Kimball Kjar couldn't have scripted it better.
In a game of firsts, the BYU All-American rugby player made his first start with the U.S. National Rugby Team, scored his first try of his two-year national-team career and helped the United States Eagles earn their first win of Regional World Cup pool play.
The United States defeated Chile 35-22 Saturday before an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd at Murray Rugby Field. The two sides are battling with Canada and Uruguay for two Americas-qualifying berths in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
U.S. coach Tom Billups chided national and international rugby reports that Kjar's start in Salt Lake City was more gimmick than game strategy, merely allowing the 24-year-old who grew up in Bountiful and plays at BYU to be featured as a starter before a hometown crowd that included more than 70 family members and friends.
"If this game was in Siberia, he still would have started," Billups said. "We just don't have room for any of that sentimentality on this team . . . And the early snapshots of this game suggest that he'll return (as a starter) on merit."
Kjar plays the scrumhalf position, which normally initiates most offensive attacks by picking up the ball from the ground after a tackle and making the inaugural lateral. The Eagle offensive reeled off three tries, two conversion kicks and two penalty kicks in the first half alone en route to a lopsided 25-3 halftime lead.
And late in the opening half, Kjar found himself with the ball and no reason to toss it elsewhere, busting almost untouched through the middle of the field for his first score with the Eagles.
"It was clear pasture," said Kjar in a phrase best understood in Utah.
After dropping their first two games against Canada in 2002 pool-qualifying play, the U.S. Eagles faced the Chile Condors in the first of four must-win games against Chile and Uruguay — a "four-prong journey" as Billups calls it.
So it's no wonder Saturday's victory provided only momentary pleasures. "Like Coach Billups said, it's a 30-second grin and then back to it," Kjar said.
After the Condors missed early scoring chances, U.S. right wing David Fee opened the scoring with a five-point try in the 15th minute, followed by Mike Hercus' two-point conversion kick for a 7-0 lead.
Hercus added two three-point penalty kicks, sandwiched around a penalty kick by Chile's Cristian Gonzalez, as the Eagles took a 13-3 advantage through 26 minutes.
Ten minutes later, the Eagles added another try as fullback Mose Timoteo tossed a long lateral to Fee, who scampered unmolested from midfield down the right sideline for the score and an 18-3 lead.
Kjar added his solo run late in the first half, opting to hold onto the ball for his five-point run of 40-plus yards. Hercus' conversion kick made it 25-3 on the half's final play.
In the second 40 minutes, Chile outscored the United States 19-10, as the Eagles used liberal substitutions and a more defensive mindset to rest a bit for Thursday's match against Uruguay in San Francisco.
Billups wanted to avoid unnecessary fatigue and injury with only five days until the next rough-and-tumble qualifier. "Some of these boys play more rugby than most people play golf," he said.
Also, the high altitude played a bit of a factor for the Americans.
"Toward the end of the second half, we really showed it," Fee said.
Scoring tries for the Condors were outside center Nicolas Damm, fullback Bernardo Garcia and right lock and captain Alfonso Escobar, with a conversion kick each by Gonzalez and substitute Sebastian Callejas.
The Eagles' second-half points came on a Hercus penalty kick and a blast-up-the-middle try by inside center Philip Eloff and a Hercus conversion.
With the win, the United States pulls into a tie for second in the win-loss standings with Chile. After Thursday's U.S.-Uruguay qualifier, the Eagles head to South American for end-of-the-month matches against the same two teams.
Saturday's match in Murray was the first-ever Regional World Cup qualifier ever played in Utah, with the current U.S. tour only the second time RWC games have been played on American soil.
The international match headlined a full day of rugby and festivities at the Murray Rugby Field. An all-star team of Utah collegians beat a Texas all-star team 39-10 earlier in the day, and adolescent players played touch-rugby scrimmages during halftime. A Tongan drum-and-bugle corps entertained before the match, with a women's game between Salt Lake area all-stars and a touring Northwest team concluding the day.
A small but boisterous band of Chilean fans put the final international touches on the standing-room-only crowd of 2,075.
E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com