College Rugby Association of America (CRAA) held its second DIA match of the regular season, as BYU traveled to Central Washington University (CWU) for the teams’ spring opener. Single digits separated the squad for the majority of the match but the relentless physicality of the Wildcats eventually helped the home team pull away for a 43-13 win.
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MVP honors go to the Wildcat scrum, which included four freshmen in their first collegiate game: lock Tessa Hann (Arapahoe, CO) and loose forwards Kayla Guyton (NZ), vice captain Abby Fearey (Coastal Dragons, CA) and Zonaye Tupuola (South Bay, CA). The pack absolutely dominated the set piece, and if it wasn’t outright stealing BYU’s put-in, it was shoving the Cougars into a desperate retreat, disrupting the quality of ball and forcing the attack to flatten out. BYU’s lineouts weren’t particularly sure either, and so the set pieces became great opportunities to regain possession after an error.
“I thought our scrums were amazing,” CWU captain Mikayla Roberts enthused. “We’ve always had strong forwards, but today it was so amazing to see our forwards dominate the attack and defensive scrum, and I think that made the backs want to work even harder. Our starting freshman forwards had big shoes to fill and they stepped up to the challenge and dominated! They were aggressive on attack and defense, and I loved watching them take part in our powerful scrums.”
With that said, much of the first quarter was spent in the host’s end. One minute after kickoff, the Cougars earned a penalty 25 meters out, dead center, and wing Nicole Lyons made good on the three points. BYU then gave up back-to-back offsides penalties, and freshman fullback Sammy Stern went on the first of several carving runs to get the team moving. The forwards went to work inside BYU’s 22 and then senior prop Haley Abeyta powered through the line for the game’s first try, 5-3.
CWU captain Mikayla Roberts went on a thumping run but when the ball hit the deck, it was kicked off the ground to the Wildcats’ end, and there it stayed for the rest of the first quarter. A couple of penalties extended BYU’s stay and the visitors did make it over the line, but the defense prevented the grounding. Normally a 5m attacking scrum would be a decent reset, but CWU kept stealing the set piece and clearing its lines.
Near the 25-minute mark, Roberts smashed her opposite, who lost control of the ball. CWU recovered the ball and counter-attacked quickly. The ball moved to space, where Stern was waiting and she sped off for the first of three tries, 10-3.
“I think our team did just that,” Roberts responded to coach Richards’ goal of re-establishing the team’s reputation for physicality. “CWU women’s rugby is known for being very physical, so we wanted to go into today’s game holding up that standard. We as a team made sure to keep everything in front of us on defense and to work to meet them in the line of contact.”
BYU ended the half on a high. A kicking exchange led to a good CWU counter only to have the wide-out pass float to no one. BYU recovered the ball, worked the phases, then moved the ball to wing Baylie Duce, who stepped multiple defenders for the try, 10-8.
“I thought BYU applied really good pressure at our rucks,” Roberts reviewed the Cougars’ strengths. “They saw that our support was late and they took advantage of that opportunity to steal the ball.”
The half ended a midfield knock-on put the ball in BYU vice captain Kat Stowers’ hands. The center kicked to the corner and the chase was on. The host won the race but carried the ball into the try zone to dot it down. BYU got the 5m scrum, but again, that was advantage for CWU.
The second-half scoring started with a solid CWU lineout, followed by the backs doing a great job of running onto leading passes. The ball made it to freshman wing Philomena Namosimalua for the corner try, 15-8. BYU answered right back, making good use of penalties to stay in the host’s end. The Wildcats defense was solid in tight and just off the breakdown, but the Cougars did well to recognize space and send the ball at the right time. Lyons scored in the corner and pulled her side to within two points of the lead, 15-13.
CWU then put four unanswered tries on the board, and they all showcased the best elements of the Wildcats’ game. A deep restart trickled out of bounds after crossing BYU’s 22. The Cougars worked the lineout but the clearance kick stayed in bounds, and a lovely counter-attack followed. Stern took the final pass in the middle of the field and weaved through to the try line, 22-13 with Roberts’ conversion.
Central actually knocked on the restart but again the Wildcats scrum stole possession. The forwards went to work in the middle and then senior scrumhalf Maryjane Pasioles crashed through for the try, 29-13. BYU then built a furiously fast attack, starting from a quick-tap penalty inside its 10m and unleashing the backs along the sideline. Good chase defense halted the pull-away try, and excellent cover defense tracked down a skip pass to Lyons and forced a knock-on at the try line, preventing the score.
The Cougars regrouped and Stern chased a nice chip over the top and was rewarded with a perfect bounce into her arms. She raced away from everyone for the centered try and conversion, 36-13. As the game neared its finale, BYU lost some shape and four back-to-back penalties, all taken quickly, set up a final try. Hann dove beneath the posts for her first collegiate score and fellow freshman Kai Brandt-Templeton added the extras, 43-13.
“There were many people that stood out today,” Roberts noted. “Our fullback, Sammy Stern, was amazing today. She was always working to support and when she saw the space available she took it and ran with it all the way to score a try, which is why she had herself a hat trick.
“Hayley Abeyta did an amazing job today as well,” the captain shifted focus to the forwards. “She was very aggressive on attack as well as defense, and she made sure every time she got the ball she was going to gain meters for the team, and she even scored a try. Abby Fearey is another. She wasn’t on for long, but while she was she wasn’t scared to take on BYU’s forwards one-on-one. And even though it didn’t really go our way, she was always quick to be there to steal the ball from their rucks.”
Central Washington has games scheduled for the next four weekends: at Grand Canyon University (Phoenix) March, at BYU March 13, home against Lindenwood University March 20, and then at Life University on March 27. Playoffs then follow.
“For our first game, I thought we did great as a team,” Roberts summarized. “We all had our little goals for ourselves but as a team our goals for today was to have fun, to keep possession of the ball, to keep everything in front of us on defense, and when stuff didn’t go our way we would continue to uplift each other instead of getting upset. We weren’t perfect out there today, but now we know what we need to work on and to continue to grow as a team.”