Rugby women play unexpected home finale
It wasn’t quite the way the Utah State women’s rugby club wanted to end its home season, but it was a win-win situation nonetheless.
The Aggie women were scheduled to play in-state rival Weber State, but the Wildcats only brought four players. To send their seniors off properly, the Aggies loaned Weber State some players and played 10-on-10 rugby, instead of the normal 15-on-15.
With the USU only team up 40-5 at the half, the two teams switched some players, and the WSU/USU combined squad mounted a comeback, before falling 45-24 Saturday morning on the HPER Field.
While the Aggies were disappointed they didn’t get the chance to play a regular game, club president Becca Ogden said the scrimmage still ended on a good note.
“It’s kind of sad a little bit, but it was a good game to end on, because most of our team was here,” she said. “It was a good way to go out.”
Ogden, who along with Jaima Gill and Rebecca Young played their last home game as Aggies, certainly made sure she went out with bang.
The senior inside center recorded a hat trick for the USU-only side in the first half, and followed that up with two tries for the USU/WSU side after switching teams in the second half.
Led by Ogden, the Utah State-only squad scored early and often in the opening stanza, using quick lateral ball movement to the back line to open up the entire field.
“We would get them overloaded, and then we would just keep swinging it out while the other people were drawn into a ruck on the other side,” said Aggie Rachael Ritchie.
This was especially evident midway through the half when fullback Joslyn Airhart, who was the recipient of five swing passes, found paydirt.
In addition to Airhart’s try and Ogden’s three tries, Lindsey Lovell and Lauren Dreitzler also scored for the Aggies in the first stanza. USU’s Jaima Gill scored the USU/WSU squad’s lone try in the first half.
Not only did Saturday’s game feature a lot of points, but also several long-scoring runs. The two teams combined for three tries scored on 50-plus-yard sprints.
Both Ritchie and Georganne Done attributed the long-scoring runs to having less players on the field, and a more relaxed atmosphere than a typical rugby game.
“I think it had more to do with the intensity being down a little bit,” Done said. “It was more fun and we weren’t as determined … weren’t driven as hard to get to the ball and get to the person to make the tackle.”
Utah State will close its most successful season in club history Saturday in Pocatello, Idaho against Idaho State.
As far as next year goes, Ogden said she is confident the program will continue to make strides.
“They’re going to be so good next year,” she said. “They’ll have a solid coaching staff, and then, pretty much, they’ll have a full starting lineup with experience. They’ll be extremely competitive.”
-jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu