Men's Rugby | 4/18/2015 2:51:00 PM
PROVO, Utah (April. 18) -- The Central Washington University men's rugby team saw its 15s season come to an end with a 35-8 loss against Brigham Young University in the semifinal round of the Varsity Cup.
The Wildcats reached the semifinal round of the Varsity Cup for the third consecutive year having lost to BYU in 2013 and Cal last season.
The Cougars were the first to score in the match, but CWU had a chance to flip the script. Aladdin Schirmer won a ball on the right flank and sprung Josh Bower with a pass who carried the ball out of Wildcat territory. Three minutes later the Wildcats opted to take a three-point kick off a penalty, but the attempted sail wide right off the foot of Bower. The Wildcats found the try zone in the 16th minute. With deep position in the BYU backfield, a string of passes off a Wildcat scrum led to Tyler Coffman finding five points to tie the game at 5-5.
In the 20th minute the Cougars gashed the middle of the of Wildcats' defense for their second try, and a penalty kick in the 38th minute gave the home team a 15-5 lead where the score would remain going into the break.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a successful Bower penalty kick that closed the deficit to just one score at 15-8.
The Cougars used well placed kicks to keep the Wildcat attack at bay. A miscue on the border of the CWU try zone led to the first BYU try of the second half. Bower missed played a deep kick and found himself swarmed and brought down just feet beyond the line.
The Wildcats best scoring opportunity came when Vili Toluta'u surged deep into the BYU back line late in the second half but lost the ball, and again, BYU cleared themselves of any danger with another field position swapping kick.
The Cougars finished the match on a 30-3 run to down the Wildcats.
The loss concludes the Wildcats' 15s season, but the team will continue onto the USA Rugby Collegiate 7s National Tournament in Denver, Colorado on May. 23.
