The BYU rugby team defeated the Cal-Poly Mustangs 37–22 at home on Wednesday, March 26, in a match of adverse weather conditions from rain, snow and hail.
Cal-Poly, a Division 1-A team, sought to end the Cougars’ winning streak but failed to do so despite taking an early lead to open the half. BYU center Joshua Whippy and fly half Jonathan Linehan led on the offensive end, with Whippy scoring two tries and Linehan contributing a try and several conversion and penalty points.
Despite coming out with a victory, BYU struggled throughout the match to win most of the scrums and gave up the ball several times.
“I’m not feeling really good about it to be honest,” said BYU head coach David Smyth of BYU’s performance. “We didn’t start well. We didn’t get our platform set with the forwards. … Then the weather came in and spoiled any chance of having a free-flowing game. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
BYU took the lead 14 minutes into the first half, with a try from winger Jordan Lowry putting the Cougars up 12–10. BYU entered half-time up 24–15.
The rain and wind continued in the second half, causing players on both sides to drop the ball often and miss tackles.
The Mustangs gave up a try in the beginning of the second half due to a penalty changing the score to 29–15. Linehan’s conversion was good, improving BYU’s score to 31–15.
In the 46th minute, the Mustangs returned the favor, scoring a try off a BYU penalty, and completed their conversion, making the score 31–22. The Mustangs would not score again for the rest of the match.
BYU got on the board two more times thanks to Linehan completing penalty kicks, improving the score to 37–22.
BYU looks forward to the San Francisco Golden Gate game on Saturday, March 29, 1 p.m., at BYU’s South Field. The game will be available on web and covered via Twitter.
