PROVO — The opponent has changed, but the goal remains the same for the BYU rugby team — make good use of homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs tonight and move on.
The Cougars, originally slated to host a four-team pool to determine who will advance to the National Round of 16 as the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union's No. 2 seed, will now have to overcome only one opponent, Chico State, to claim that spot.
"They'll be a good test of where we are at this point in the season," BYU coach David Smyth said of Chico State. "Playoff rugby is very different from regular-season rugby."
Though his team comes into the match with an undefeated 9-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking by goffonrugby.com, Smyth said he has had a chance to do some limited scouting and expects a tough match from Chico State (4-2).
"We have to go out and try to control the tempo of the game and play to our strengths that we've obviously been working on for the past few months," Smyth said.
Three other teams will also be in action: Utah, 6-1, travels to Ellensburg, Wash., for a Saturday game against Oregon. The other semifinal game Saturday is St. Mary's at Central Washington. Winners will play Sunday for a berth in the national tournament.
Utah State's men's and women's teams play Saturday and Sunday in Monmouth, Ore. The men's first-round game is vs. Santa Rose Junior College; the women will play UC Santa Cruz.
BYU was originally scheduled to play Nevada-Reno on Friday night, then play the winner of a Chico State-Washington match on Saturday afternoon.
However, Nevada-Reno forfeited the tournament for undisclosed reasons, and Washington was moved to another tournament pool in its home state, leaving just one other team in the Cougars' pool.
Tonight's match will be at 6 at Helaman Field.