Utah dominated the field at the Rocky Mountain Challenge, providing four of the six finalists in three brackets, and winning all three finals.

The Utah Girls fell to Orem (Utah) in the girls final, but it was the Utah Youth Rugby teams tat prevailed in the two boys brackets, with the JVs hammered Texas 38-0 in the final, and in fact didn't give up a point in all four games. The Utah Varsity team wasn't quite as polished, at least early on.

"The coaches spoke to the Varsity team on Saturday night and told them that the JV team was showing them up - the Varsity certainly looked suspect," said Utah Youth Rugby President Owen Power.

Still, Utah won both of their Saturday matches, 15-6 over Oklahoma, and 36-14 over Wisconsin. On Sunday, said Power, "they were on fire."

With Colton Swapp (Lowland) moving to flyhalf and combining well with scrumhalf Randell Marquez (TC Fusion), the Utah offense really started to click.

"They started to find their feel," said Power. "We made a few other shifts in the lineup and they seemed to work. Overall the guys showed character."

That almost threatened to fall apart in the semifinal against Colorado, when some fractiousness got Utah into some penalty trouble. That's when the coaches told captains Kalisi Moli and Sione Bloomfield to sort it out, which is exactly what they did.

"They were saying the things we say as coaches, saying 'this is not how we represent the state of Utah,'" said Power. Tempers subsided, and rugby prevailed, as did Utah, 39-7 over Colorado. Meanwhile, Texas edged Oklahoma 27-19 in a game that showed that maybe Oklahoma's opening game against Utah wasn't such a shocker after all.

In the final, Utah certainly finished the stronger, slamming Texas 33-7.

It was a repeat win for Utah, which won despite having only two players total on their Varsity and JV squads who had played for a one of the two (single-school or club) state champions. The performance certainly shows the depth and strength of the game in the Beehive State.

 

 

 

 

 

Rocky Mountain Challenge Scores

Varsity

Texas 43 Idaho 0

Utah 15 Oklahoma 6

Heart of America 7 Minnesota 0

Colorado 27 Louisiana 5

Texas 40 Nebraska 5

Utah 36 Wisconsin 14

Colorado 24 Heart of America 21

Minnesota 33 Louisiana 0

Nebraska 14 Idaho 12

Oklahoma 36 Wisconsin 0

 

Sunday

​Wisconsin 38 Idaho 0

Louisiana 5 Nebraska 5 (Nebraska wins on kicks)

Idaho 7 Minnesota 19

Nebraska 14 Heart of America 44

Semis Texas 27 Oklahoma 19

Semis Utah 39 Colorado 7

Wisconsin 26 Minnesota 12

Heart of America 39 Louisiana 14

3rd/4th Colorado 41 Oklahoma 20

Final: Utah 33 Texas 7