By Jonathon Eyre
The BYU men”s rugby team overcame a slow start to crush California State University-Sacramento 81-7 on Saturday, Oct. 26.
The Hornets started quickly scoring a try within the first few minutes of the first half putting them up 7-0.
“I thought early on we got off to a bad start,” coach David Smyth said. “Our guys were not mentally switched on. They were sleeping a little bit. They punished us right out of the gates.”
Smyth said BYU took about ten minutes to recover from the bad start.
Junior fly half Kalem Nordstrom led the recovery. Nordstrom had four tries on the day while showcasing his skills as an open field runner.
“It was a nice day for open play,” Nordstrom said. “The weather held out on us, so the ball was always going to go out wide.”
Rain threatened the entire game, but held out until the last 10 minutes of the game.
Senior hooker Seth Herway and freshman flanker Emosi Togagai each had two tries.
After the Cougars” slow start, they were able to control the ball for the remainder of the game.
The Hornets only approached their try zone once more, but they were turned away after the Cougars forced a scrum.
Smyth did not expect BYU to dominate like they did.
“I was expecting them to be a little stronger as far as giving us a hard time,” Smyth said.
Smyth said BYU was able to take Sacramento State out of its rhythm and that was one of the main factors that led to the Cougar victory.
The Cougars were also able to recycle the ball well. On one of its tries the ball was pitched four times out of the scrum to avoid would-be tacklers before Nordstrom ultimately scored the try.
“Once we got into the game and started to recycle the ball things went better, and we were able to use our moves and speed in the back lane to score some points,” Smyth said.
Smyth was pleased with the play of his forwards. He said they hustled well and were able to secure the ball for the team enabling them to score.
The Cougars” final game of the fall schedule will be Nov. 2 against Idaho State University at 1 p.m.
