Men's Rugby | 3/18/2017 4:06:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University men's rugby team suffered its first 15's loss of the season to the hands of Brigham Young University by a score of 46-24 Saturday afternoon at the Wildcat Rugby Pitch.
"Today was all about execution and we failed to do that on both sides of the ball," CWU Head Coach
Todd Thornley said. "The times when we did what we were supposed to, we look very threatening, but BYU is a very good team and took advantage of our mistakes. We had a lot of opportunities in the first half but could not capitalize, and against a quality opponent like we had today, we can't let that happen."
Going against the wind in the first half, the Wildcats struggled to keep possession, scoring just once in the frame on a try by
Sinclair Clinton in the 46
th minute.
Li'a Faletogo-Monis found Clinton in support from eight meters out and the loose forward touched down right under the uprights.
The Cougars struck first in the 12
th minute, fighting around a number of CWU defenses. Central nearly answered in the 26
th minute when
Corey Nuti was five meters from the try zone before the last BYU defender stripped the ball loose.
The Cougars scored three more times in the first half, with the addition of a penalty kick to head into halftime with a 31-7 lead over the Wildcats.
Central Washington opened the scoring in the second half with a big offensive surge started by a line break by
Simi Ratukalou and finished by
Jeremy Lenaerts who reached across the try line from his stomach with two defenders on top of him to cut the BYU lead to 31-12.
After another try and conversion by BYU,
Fabian Lumsden found
Beau Davis off a line break by
Nick Siemens, and Davis pushed the pile over the line. After the
Ian Wright conversion, CWU found itself down 19-38 in the 68
th minute.
Eight minutes later BYU scored its final try of the contest, followed closely by a 15-meter try by CWU's
Larry Peneueta. The Cougars topped off the day with their second penalty kick of the game as time expired, giving the visitors the final 46-24 advantage.
"Larry has great energy off the bench and stepped up and made a huge impact for us. We had a lot of great individual performances from Simi (Ratukalou), Jeremy (Lenaerts) and Fabian (Lumsden), but collectively we need to all be on the same page," Thornley added. "Going forward we are going to work on our skill execution, and we will put it to the test this coming week when we play a tough Victoria team in a quick turnaround."
Up next, the Wildcats travel to Victoria, B.C. to take on the University of Victoria on Wednesday, Mar. 22, followed by a Mar. 31 rematch with BYU in Provo, Utah.
