By CHELSEA BRONN, staff reporter
In the second half of last Saturday’s game, the scoreboard read 0-0. But that wouldn’t stop the Central Washington University rugby team from beating Cal Poly 21-10 on April 13, which marks their final home game of the regular season.
After entering the second half with zero points on the board, the Wildcats knew that time wasn’t on their side.
The Wildcats forced pressure on Cal Poly with every scrum to keep them from scoring, while working tirelessly to improve their own offense.
Central eventually found the end zone with tries coming from lock Sean Wanigasekara and wing Josh Bower.
In the five minute span between minute 65 and 70 minutes of the match, Cal Poly mounted a counterattack. They busted off two quick scores, the second of which came off a failed counterattack from the Wildcats. The ball bounced directly into the hands of a Cal Poly attacker who ran to score the try untouched.
Senior Jacob Bates, president of the club, was the spearhead of a multi-phase attack from his hooker position that would result in the final try of the game.
Bates scored and kicker Alex Reher, who was perfect on the day statistically, followed it up with a conversion to push the Wildcats lead to 21-10. Cal Poly was unable to answer.
With their latest victory, the Wildcats now boast a 9-1 overall season record in D1A.
They will now be heading to Los Angeles, Calif. to face the United States Air Force Academy in the first round of the 2013 Varsity Cup Collegiate Rugby Championship.
If the Wildcats win their opening match in the Varsity Cup over Air Force, and if BYU loses to UCLA, then Central will be able to host the semifinal match of the tournament in Ellensburg.
Last year Central competed in the Pacific Conference, which was the one of the most competitive leagues that USA Rugby had to offer.
Unfortunately one of the initial members of the league dropped out from the conference in the beginning of last year’s season. Consequently many teams followed, which crippled the conference.
With fewer teams in the conference, schools who were geographically further away, such as California, were less inclined to travel all the way to Ellensburg for a single match.
The Wildcats were then forced into relocating as an independent conference, so the Wildcats would have more freedom with who they would play.
But when looking at the bigger picture, Central is pleased with where they ended up with the Varsity Cup.
“The Varsity Cup is a better opportunity for us as a team, to play better competition,” said senior team manager Alex Lee, who is majoring in exercise science.
The Varsity Cup is a prestigous tournament which many teams strive to compete in. Playing with Ivy Leagues school such as Dartmouth and storied programs like Notre Dame, Central is truly among elite company.
