BYU's Matt Jensen fights through a tackle. The Cougars beat CWU Saturday afternoon. (Natalie Bothwell)
BYU rugby pushed through to take down Central Washington University 58-27 despite struggling in the second half.
CWU took an early lead 6-0 lead in the first half scoring on two penalty kicks five minutes in. BYU quickly responded with two tries by Kevin Schofield and Ryan Blaser.
“Even though they scored first, we were playing great in the first half,” Schofield said. “We spread the ball around and had minimal turnovers. When we play like that we’re deadly.”
The Cougars held off CWU for the rest of the half scoring three more tries and a penalty kick to bring the lead to 36-6.
The second half brought a change in pace for BYU. The Cougars opened the half with a penalty kick but the Wildcats quickly responded with three tries. BYU only lead 39-27 at the 60 minute mark.
“In the second half we just got lazy,” said BYU head coach David Smyth. “The boys took the foot off the gas. That was our fault and something we could have controlled.”
Junior Josh Anderson said the team came together and made a mental shift when CWU started catching up.
“We were either going to come together as a team or crumble and let them come back,” Anderson said. “In those last twenty minutes we mentally clicked on again.”
BYU increased their lead with three more tries to end the game 58-27.
Anderson said that BYU will need to minimize their errors in order to defeat St. Mary's next weekend.
'We just need to hold on to the ball. St. Mary's comes hard at the ruck and we just need to keep possession to get the upper hand.'