USA Club News

Saturday afternoon marks the one of the most anticipated weekends in collegiate rugby where the country’s biggest rivalry kicks-off with BYU hosting it’s northern rival Utah at South Field in the 2010 version of the Wasatch Cup.

The Cougars have owned the rights to the Wasatch Cup 5 out of the 6 last years with a lone win going to Utah in 2005. Both teams consistently come into this annual rivalry showdown ranked in the upper echelon of the collegiate ranks with BYU holding down a #2 rank and Utah comes in at #7 & #5 in various polls.

The proximity of the two universities, along with their continued rugby achievement makes the Wasatch Cup match the premier and most intense, college rugby rivalry in the country.

The Cougars come into this match as the defending national champions from last year and have played in the championship game four years in a row, while Utah themselves have been to the title game in 2002 and 2005.

Being at the front of the pack in college rugby for both programs is a major boost for the state of the game in Utah. A win for either team would have far-reaching affects for that respective program, while also influencing the landscape of the collegiate playoff brackets.

The champion of the Wasatch Cup will be given an automatic bye past the regional playoffs and the #1 seed into the USA Rugby collegiate playoffs. While the loser will face the very uphill challenge of traveling to the regional playoffs before qualifying for the USA Rugby playoffs.

“The Wasatch Cup game is huge on it’s own,” said BYU assistant coach Wayne Tarawhiti, “We could be playing ping pong against Utah and it would take on an intensity like nothing else. But when you add all the stuff that comes from winning or losing this game, this game becomes something beyond huge for each program.”

Utah head coach Blake Burdette shared Tarawhiti’s sentiment highlighting that the rivalry is one of the country’s most unique and exciting games to be a part of and and to watch.

“I believe this is the best rivalry in college rugby,” Burdette said, “And when you add the coveted Wasatch Cup into the mix it’s always an exciting event. It’s such a unique rivalry because a lot of these athletes know each other. They have grown up together and played together so there is a lot of pride trying to best the guy across from you.”

Burdette’s Utah team come into the game with a 13-1 record on the season and is led by three of the country’s best young rugby talents.

Leading Utah this year is the young USA Eagle and 7’s star Thretton Palamo, who assisted the USA to it’s cup championship recently in Las Vegas, NV two weekends ago. He is paired in the half backs with USA U-20 scrumhalf Don Pati who hails from Utah high school rugby power Highland. Another U-20 standout suiting up for the Utes is another Highland alumnus fullback Naki Angilau.

All three have made a major impact for the Utes thus far with the lone Utah loss being against one of the top Canadian teams the University of Victoria by the score of 38-22. Most recently these same freshmen helped Utah to a 67 to 7 beat-down on the University of Wyoming in Salt Lake City last Saturday.

Building on such young talent is what Burdette hopes will give his program the boost they desire to break past their Provo rivals and lay claim to their first Wasatch Cup victory since he was a player in 2005.

“The Wasatch Cup is extremely important to our program at Utah,” Burdette said, “Annually this game gives us an opportunity to test ourselves against one of the top programs in the country and see where we measure up. As we continue to build a reputable program, the Wasatch Cup puts on a great stage with our rivals and it’s something that we look forward to every March.”

“We look forward to this game all year,” said BYU All American prop Mikey Su’a who grew up in the shadows of the University of Utah, “Utah’s a very good team this year and they have some really good players. So we’ll have to make sure we’re good to go to keep the cup in Provo for another year.”

BYU boasts not only the four straight Wasatch Cup victories, but also returns some key players from last year’s national title match that should prove to be interesting match ups to Utah’s young standouts.

BYU head coach David Smyth summarized his team’s perspective on the magnitude of the Wasatch Cup match.

“This is a big game no doubt about it,” he said, “We respect Utah and we never look past them as an opponent, they are a dangerous team. They come with a lot of talented players and have had a great year so this will likely be an exciting game. I’m looking forward to it.”

BYU Rugby program will be hosting their alumni for the annual homecoming game. Part of the festivities will be the awarding of the Matt Brown Distinguished Alumnus Award that honors one distinguished alumnus for their contributions to the BYU Rugby program and other civic, religious, vocational and charitable success. The recognition will be held at half time of the Wasatch Cup game.

Other festivities will include the unveiling of BYU’s first national championship banner on South Field before the game. Alumni and fans should arrive early to be a part of this special occasion.

The Wasatch Cup will be televised live nationally with BYU-TV broadcasting the game on their 48 million home network. The match can also be viewed online live and for two weeks after the broadcast at www.byutv.com/streaming. BYU-TV’s Jarom Jordan, who also does the BYURUGBY.com regular CougarCast, will call the game along with BYU Rugby alum Steve St. Pierre.

Kick-off is set for 1pm MT at BYU’s South Field. Fans should arrive early as seating will be likely be limited. Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $5 for students w/ ID, $3 for youth under 12. Groups and teams of 15 or more can also get in for just $3 per person. Fans who arrive before 12.30pm will receive $1 off the price of admission.

Stay tuned to www.byurugby.com for more details and follow the Cougars on www.twitter.com/byurugby for updates in lead up to the Wasatch Cup match and in-match scoring updates.