Rugby loses final home match of season
The Utah State University men’s club rugby team lost their final home game of the season Saturday afternoon against the University of Utah. Despite losing 46-5, Aggies coach Nev Pulotu was proud of his team for working as hard as they did against the Utes, even though they were behind the whole game. “We did better this year [against the Utes] than we did last year,” Pulotu said. On the team, 85 to 90 percent of the players are playing for their first year, Pulotu said, and some of them were playing in their first game. Out of the nine forward positions, six of them are filled with new players and four of five players in the backline are also new. “You have to consider the facts when you play against a team like Utah,” he said. In the first half the Utes got off to an early lead by scoring twice before the Aggies responded. About 20 minutes into the half, veteran Wayne Gualuafe picked up the ball out of a ruck and ran it 12 meters, scoring the Aggies’ only goal of the game. Although the Utes managed to score four more goals before the match ended, including three in the second half- the Aggies never let them take complete control- team captain Brant Fletcher said. Within the last five minutes of the game, the Aggies carried the ball down to the goal line showing the Utes it wasn’t over, he said. But because of an illegal block they had it called back. “I feel like we played a pretty good game,” Fletcher said. “The University of Utah wasn’t as good as we thought they’d be.” But not everyone on the team felt as good about the loss as Pulotu and Fletcher. “The new guys are unexperienced players and it gets frustrating, you just have to do what you can,” veteran Kevin Arrington said. “Utah is an experienced team, they know what they’re doing and so they killed us.” The Aggies look for their second win of the season when they travel south to play Utah Valley State College on Saturday at 1 p.m.