By Brett Hatch
There will be no third game.
After BYU”s rugby team beat Utah less than a month ago, a third game to determine the conference champion was tentatively scheduled for an undetermined future date.
The Cougars challenged the Utes to a game this week at Murray Field in Murray. The neutral field suited both teams nicely for a tiebreaker.
BYU waited since Wednesday of last week for Utah to respond to its proposal. Utah never answered.
“They don”t have to play us,” BYU coach Jared Akenhead said. “They know we are not going to be able to play in the post-season, so they don”t want to play us and get someone hurt, or worse, lose to us again.”
Rumors swirled around last week of a possible change to the schedule for the national rugby championships, which are played on a Sunday.
If a change occurred, BYU would play for the big golden trophy for the first time in over two decades.
To be eligible for the national championships, BYU must finish atop its conference.
Last year, the Cougars took the conference championship, but once again could not participate in the national championship tournament, because BYU will not play on Sundays.
Akenhead said he would not push the rugby union to make a decision this year on the tournament schedule. He did say he hopes current sentiments in the union will carry over to next year and effect a change.
“I”ve said it from the beginning, all I care about is winning our conference,” Akenhead said. “These kids deserve to play in the championship. I think we have made a lot of good contacts this season and we”ll have to see about next year.”
