USU rugby men take on in-state foe UVSC in Orem
Playing the first game of the season against Utah Valley State College will be a nervous experience for most of the Utah State University men’s rugby club, Head Coach Nev Pulotu said.
More than half of the players on the rugby team at USU are playing their first year of rugby, but that doesn’t pose concerns for Pulotu about Saturday’s game at 1 p.m. on the HPER Field, he said.
“I’m confident that we can hang with UVSC,” Pulotu said. “I think we’re going to do good, it will be a good chance to get the new guys started into it,” he said.
Because of the amount of new players, Pulotu said the Aggies are counting on the leadership of four key players and the rest of the veterans to get a win in their first game of the season.
Team captain Brant Fletcher, playing the number eight position, and Bryce Baxter, playing prop, are two of the players Pulotu said will be able to carry the load, because of their toughness and strong running.
Not only do Fletcher and Baxter carry the team during games, but they also run some of the practices when Pulotu isn’t able to be there.
Two other players Pulotu said to watch out for are Steve Hunter, playing flyhalf, and Brady Christen, a freshman starting at flanker.
“Our team is kind of nervous because a lot of them are brand new, so it will be up to our veterans to carry the rest of the team,” he said.
Despite the leadership from key players, the Aggies will need to focus on defense if they want to come out victorious, he said.
“If we don’t play good defense we could be in trouble,” he said. “We can’t be going with two- or three-man tackles. We need to man up and take a tackle.”
Last season the Aggies split wins with UVSC, winning at home and losing away, but that isn’t normal for USU, Pulotu said.
“We normally beat everyone, including BYU and Utah,” he said. “But recently we’ve really been hurting for players and other schools are doing a lot better with recruiting.”