During the offseason, Herriman Head Coach Derek Smith reflected back on the 2014 campaign and decided that his team’s schedule needed to be more challenging in order to better prepare his squad for the rigors of postseason play, so when it came time to schedule a friendly against rival and national club power United, he took the opportunity to make it even tougher.  

The game was to be played at United’s home field in Alpine – always a tough place to play – and was scheduled on the day after Herriman’s  prom, with U17 All-Americans Tomasi Tonga, Leki Fotu, and Ian Abbott in the air en route to France for the HSAA tour. It was Smith’s hope that scheduling a high level opponent under intentionally adverse circumstances would force his team to reach down and find out what they were made of.  Mission accomplished.

Jay Hyer photo.

​Herriman-United has become quite the rivalry the last few years, borne out of mutual respect and quality play on both sides, so the game had all the makings of being a classic and did not disappoint.  From the get-go, United’s game plan was to be patient and string together phase rugby.  The effort to retain possession may have been in part to keep the ball away from an explosive Herriman offense which came in to the game averaging 45 points per game. The strategy paid off early as Herriman grew frustrated with the inability to get their hands on the ball combined with United’s efficiency at the breakdown. The Mustangs were whistled for a trifecta of penalties at the ruck and United methodically made ground until reaching over for a well-earned score.  The conversion attempt was low, 5-

Herriman’s seniors would respond quickly, as inside center Sione Bloomfield would force the ball from a United player’s hands on the subsequent restart and pound ahead to get United suddenly on the back foot.  The ball was spun wide and went through several hands before finding No. 8 Kalisi Moli. The 260-pounder showed great pace, out-sprinting the opposition down the sideline to level the score. Colin Snow’s sideline conversion put the visitors out front 7-5.

United would go back on the charge, continuing to control possession, and the Herriman offense would not do itself many favors by turning the ball over several times on attack. United played stout defense and took advantage of a Herriman defensive miscommunication as speedy 2014 U17 All-American Darian Power hit a gap.  Kyler Burch’s hustle saved a try momentarily, but United was able to quickly reverse field and find their wing out wide. A missed Herriman tackle would see the home team through for a center touch down and an easy conversion to regain the lead at 12-7.

Another bit of poor tackling would cost Herriman, as scrumhalf Noah Vaea was yellow carded for an unsafe tackle. United would use the man advantage well, once again stringing together effective phase play, to get near the try line. Herriman’s line held strong through several attempts both in tight and out wide, but United was unrelenting and went over to make it 17-7.

Still shorthanded, Herriman sensed the need to turn the tide and regain some momentum. With Snow and prop Jaeron Masina sharing the scrumhalf duties in Vaea’s absence, and with Moli and Bloomfield providing go-forward ball, United conceded a penalty in the center of the field from about 30 meters out.  Herriman opted to forgo the high percentage kick and found touch 10 meters out. After a drive from the lineout yielded some gain, Masina got the ball out to the backs, where a cutting Bloomfield powered through the defense, and eventually Bloomfield found space, lowered his shoulder, and powered over. The shorthanded try would close the gap to 5, and the teams would go into halftime with United up 17-12.

United would come out strong in the second half and send a message that they would stay on the attack.  Herriman again conceded a string of penalties and United scored to widen their advantage to 22-12. Four tries, but only one conversion, and that would come back to bite them. The Herriman defense would begin to assert itself with better tackling and more aggressive play to create turnover ball, and that put United on the back foot on offense. The most telling example of this was Jordan Marrott hounding Power, who twisted and turned to escape and ended up about 20 meters behind the gain line.

The change in momentum would pay off with Herriman borrowing a page out of United’s playbook by stringing several phases together, led by a resurgent Niua Mahe and the continued efforts of Moli. Herriman got close to the line and Vaea twisted and extended the ball across for a score.  With Snow limping from a pulled quad muscle, Vaea took over placekicking duties and calmly completed his score with a conversion to get the Mustangs within striking distance at 22-19.

United would regain control and attempt to get the ball in to space outside, perhaps to attack Snow’s replacement, Tonu Naeta. But Naeta was up to the challenge and made a huge impact defensively – first linking the ball inside on counterattack from a missed kick for touch, and then stymying several good United attacks with tremendous open field tackles.  Naeta was also in support when Mahe made what would turn out to be the key break in the game.  After some lateral ball movement, Mahe hit an inside gap and was off to the races. He offloaded to Naeta and then was first to the ruck on the ensuing tackle. A United penalty at the breakdown brought Marrott over for a quick tap, and the fleet-footed captain outran the United defense for the go-ahead try. Vaea kicked the clutch conversion, making it 26-22 and ensuring United needed to score a try to come back.

In a tense final ten minutes, both teams felt the pressure. United made some uncharacteristic handling errors, and Marrott and Brig Rush made breaks for Herriman only to squander them with ill-advised passes in contact and a failed attempt to kick ahead. Herriman’s 3-to-1 conversion advantage would prove to be the difference as United was unable to kick at goal from a penalty in good field position, and Naeta and Bloomfield continued to make it difficult for the United offense to get going.  Kyler Burch would close things out with his boot – chipping ahead to pin United deep and then cleanly fielding a kick ahead and smartly booting it in to touch to end the game. 

Herriman-United always promises to be an instant classic and this one certainly matched pre-game expectations.  United’s defense was fundamentally sound, tough, and scrappy all game and Ben Webber – the latest in a long line of players from an excellent rugby family – asked several questions of the Mustang defense.  The Mustangs were ultimately led by their seniors, who have played in enough big games to know not to panic and trust each other to get the job done.

United must regroup to take on a physical West Valley side next week, while Herriman has a bye for Spring Break before traveling to another club power, Kau Toa, on May 11th.  Both teams have plenty of work to do in state before traveling to North Carolina in May to compete in their respective divisions.