For the past few seasons, the University of Utah has competed in the Varsity Cup, an elite level of college rugby. The Utes will continue to play for the Varsity Cup, but the university’s rugby team has also been accepted to as an independent member of Division 1A.
“The University of Utah has a long-standing and proud rugby tradition, and we are happy to welcome them back to our competition and the National Championship Series pathway,” said commissioner Kevin Battle. “Being an Independent, Utah will have to compete for one of the few coveted at-large playoff spots.”
Utah’s program director Mark Drown said, "We are aligned with USA Rugby and want to be part of USA Rugby's DIA and sevens competitions, but we are also aligned with Varsity Cup and the PAC Rugby Conference. We know we play a DIA-level season."
Cougars down Utes, 50-22, Saturday
BYU defeated Utah, 50-22, Saturday at Snow Canyon High School in St. George. The final score in no way indicated the intensity of the match. The Utes dominated the lineouts and maintained a great deal more possession time, but BYU took advantage of continued Utah mistakes and poor tackling to score quickly when it gained the ball.
The opening seven minutes of play summed up the contest.
Utah took a deep kickoff and, mixing its attack with ferocious rucks and swings to its backs, slowly drove 80 meters to the Cougar goal line where BYU stripped the ball, broke a number of tackles and scored the first try a little about a minute after gaining the takeaway.
Knock-ons, poor kicks to the center of the field and more turnovers led to a 26-5 BYU lead at the half. The Utes’ score came off a goal-line ruck when Scott Strong surged into the end zone.
Utah scored the first try of the second half when it drove 50 meters and Alex Alba barged into the end zone to make it 26-10, but the Cougars capitalized on turnovers to run off to a big lead and the win.
The Utes scored two more tries, the first when the ball was spun out to Taylor Thomas off a great offensive maul, and the second when Tonata Lauti broke a tackle and dodged his way in from 20 meters out. Danny Christensen converted the latter try.
Utah’s 15s have decided not to play in the Red Rock Tournament in Mesquite, Nevada, this coming weekend because it will rest for its PAC opener against nationally ranked UCLA in California Feb. 7.
Snow Canyon downs Las Vegas
Utah’s spring high school rugby season has not officially started, but when Snow Canyon allowed BYU and Utah to play its St. George match on its home field, the Warriors decided they would also play a preliminary match against the Las Vegas Rugby Academy.
Snow Canyon, undefeated in 2014 and nationally ranked in 2015, looked strong in defeating the Nevada side, 62-17.
Other college rugby scores
Cal overwhelmed Cal Poly, 76-3, in its home opener with the Golden Bears scoring a dozen tries. In other matches: San Diego State over Grand Canyon, 36-17; Arizona over Santa Clara, 55-5; Western Washington over Oregon, 18-15; Stanford over Santa Cruz, 50-24; San Jose State over Sacramento State, 31-26; and UC Davis over Chico State, 18-15.