BYU Rugby's first home game of the season!

Today, the BYU Rugby team faced off against Weber State University in what turned out to be yet another dominant display of BYU might, a shutout, 65-0 win.

I must admit I had been quite anxious to attend this first home game... no, I wasn't worried about a potential loss or fearing anything else; rather, I was just wondering what it would be like to see our boys in action for the first time this season (especially after 'talking them up' so much to everyone!). I hadn't even thought about the fact that BYU wouldn't start many of its standout players, and so I was somewhat subconsciously disappointed when I saw that only three or four starters were out on the field.

The match, in spite of its confined location on the football team's artificial practice field, was nevertheless well-attended. As often happens, I spent much of the game feebly attempting to explain the rules, positions, and other features of the game not found in any sport besides rugby. And, as similarly happens frequently, I would glance back to the action only to find that BYU had scored once again. It all seemed rather lacking in intensity as to not merit much involvement from the crowd... but of course, this match was essentially a scrimmage for BYU's seconds to gain some experience.

No snide offense intended toward Weber State, but I wouldn't really be surprised if they shared the same sentiments... that is, they knew they were going to be cannon fodder for one of the best teams in the nation (you know, kind of like everyone else when playing against Cal Berkeley!). At any rate, I don't mean to give the BYU secondary too much credit either as they looked less than stellar in terms of their execution; the abundance of knock-ons was enough to make a man swear! Bad passes and mispositioned hands are not a good combination, especially in rugby where the results can be devastating.

For this reason, as well as a number of injuries and penalties, the whole of the gameplay seemed rather sloppy and stop-start. I must remind myself and all of us, however, that I was once one of these inexperienced and overzealous players who would probably give anything to be able to knock the ball on once more or get penalized for a dangerous tackle once again!

Okay, okay... perhaps I overstep the bounds in revealing too much about my own, short-lived rugby career... nevertheless, my friends, the moral of the story is that this win over Weber State proves that all rugby players, especially those Americans new to the sport, lack control and composure to some degree when in the learning stages (again, I include myself on this one!). The win was solid by the numbers, yes... but in my opinion, the BYU seconds still have more to learn, and honestly, what more can we expect? All things considered, they did their job, gained valuable experience, and hopefully learned from their mistakes.

Hats off to our boys on a good win, and hopefully things only get better from here! (I am, after all, hoping for an oversupply of awesome sequences for our BYU Rugby HD highlight video now in filming!)