St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
Valentine’s Day.
A day devoted to your sweetheart, to cherish the one you love, to show them how much to care, to make them feel special.
Right?
Not for Utah State’s rugby team. They spent their Valentine’s Day tackling, hitting and trudging through two feet of snow for their infamous Valentine’s Day Bloodletting.
The Aggies massacred UVSC in a 22-0 game. Utah State not only ripped out their heart, but ran over it as well.
The Valentine’s Day tradition was started by the men’s rugby team as just a fun joke, for as Utah State’s Head Coach Patti Kohler said, “You don’t play rugby in the snow.”
Well, they did.
About five years ago, the women’s team decided they wanted to join in the fun.
Rugby is a typically fast-paced sport, as well as a bit confusing for some and a little intense at times. But the very slow pace of Saturday’s game allowed even the more confused spectators to keep up with the happenings.
Not to mention, the snow helped cushion the players’ tackles and falls.
“It was fun,” said the Aggies’ Angel John about playing in the snow. “It doesn’t hurt to fall at all.”
The game started with a UVSC kickoff to the Aggies. The ball was caught and instantly put into play, but a failure to keep the ball in movement resulted in an almost business-like tackle.
It didn’t take long for USU to get possession of the ball after a scrum. This time the ball was passed almost delicately from forward to forward for the try by Whitney Warr. Brooke Lambert made the two-point conversion bringing the Aggies to a 7-0 lead.
It didn’t take the Aggie women long to get used to scoring, for two scrums and one line-out later they scored again. Lambert did not make the two-point conversion, so the score stayed at 12-0.
Not more than 10 minutes later, John hooked up with Natalie Smith for their third try of the half. The final score going into halftime was 17-0.
The second half was not much different as USU scored and UVSC didn’t. But this half the scrums, which take place when there is an infringement, went uncontested. Utah State’s Lambert scored the first and last try for the second half.
The game ended at 22-0.
-vramirez@cc.usu.edu