The Utah rugby team’s drive to the playoffs took another major hit on Friday, but it didn’t stop the club from what they’ve grown accustomed to — winning.
All-American Cam Kiser went down in the second half of Friday’s game against Oregon State with a broken fibula and will be out for the season, joining already injured stars Andrew Swindle and Brad Anderson, as well as a handful of other key players on the squad.
The Utes (11-4) went on to handle Oregon State, 48-7, and No. 22 Central Washington, 33-19, to win the Pacific Northwest Territorial Playoff in Ellensburg, Wash., home of CWU.
By doing so, the No. 6 Utes clinched the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Coast region of the USA Rugby/ National Guard playoffs, set for April 18 and April 19 in Albuquerque, N.M.
“It hurts to lose a player like Cam Kiser,” senior captain Jake Anderson said. “Just his experience and knowledge of the game was a huge asset for us.”
Anderson and fill-in starters Taukave Lauti and James McDermott ensured the Utes’ win against the Beavers despite penalties and tough calls against them in the early going.
Kiser, Nate Herrscher and Ulysses Tongaonevai got things rolling in the first half while Andrew Jewkes, Scott Metcalf and Matt Wunderli helped finish the job.
“Wunderli stepped in and played awesome all weekend for us,” Anderson said. “Our depth is amazing. For guys to step in and play like that, we don’t miss a beat. We’ll need all of them in a couple of weeks for the playoffs.”
Saturday’s game against the Wildcats proved a much tougher test on CWU’s home field. Although the Utes jumped out to an easy 26-0 start, CWU outscored Utah 19-7 in the second half to make a game of it.
“We have a tendency to start off strong and then relax a little in the second half,” Anderson said. “We need to work on our conditioning, and that’s something we plan to do for the next two weeks (until the playoffs).”
Anderson, Mike Wunderli, Matt Wunderli, Scott Cowley and Matt Byrd all scored tries in what turned out to be a victory of inspiration.
“We wanted to win this one for Cam,” Anderson said. “We came out with these new red and white jerseys on, and every time we scored we said a little cheer for him. We try to win games for each guy that’s been injured.”
Anderson said the entire season has become a source of motivation for the rest of the healthy squad.
“We could’ve folded this season, but our guys keep fighting,” Anderson said. “It’s all heart. We may be smaller than the teams we play, but we hit twice as hard as anyone else.”
Utah awaits the winner of Sunday’s match between No. 3 Air Force and No. 12 Colorado, which determines their first-round opponent in the playoffs on April 18.
The Utes still have one more game before then — a tune-up against Utah State this Saturday.