#1.774122

Rugby records easy win in the rain

By Blaze Bullock

The Utah State men’s rugby team is now 2-0 after their 31-0 throttling of Idaho State Saturday afternoon at the USU HPER field.

Despite the rain and mud, the Aggies jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the early minutes of the game. The Aggies never looked back as they went into halftime with a 19-0 lead.

The Aggies put in their second string during most of the second half, but still had no trouble finishing the game with a shut out victory.

Pat Giles, senior for the Aggies, said he loved playing in the rain and likes it more than any other weather conditions.

“It’s a lot of fun. I’d rather play in the rain than 100 degree weather any day. Snow is a different story,” Giles said.

So far the Aggies have played Weber State University and Idaho State University and have seen improvement each game. The backs played especially well this game and improved greatly from the Weber State game.

Teddy Smith said he had so much fun in the win that he didn’t even know what the score was at the end of the game.

One of the key points in the victory was the fantastic play of the forwards according to Giles.

“The forwards just dominated,” Giles said.

The forwards apparently did exactly that as the Aggies were on offense for almost the entire game.

Braun Dennison, former USU student, rugby player and fan of the Aggies, said that USU had better fundamentals and were more aggressive than Idaho State.

The game was really muddy, which was apparent by the end of the game when every player on both teams was covered in mud and rain.

The Aggies seemed to have control during the entire game, and their running game was far superior to Idaho State’s which was apparent by the score.

The Bengals really only threatened to score once during the game. It was late in the second half against the Aggies in their second string, but ISU was stopped about a foot away from the end zone.

USU had the ball in Idaho State’s territory for the remainder of the game.

The Aggies will try to remain undefeated as they take on Haggis at the HPER Field at 1 p.m. this Saturday.

–blaze.bullock@aggiemail.usu.edu