Herriman and East met Saturday in the Utah Youth Rugby league opener for both teams.

Although technically a home game for East, the teams took advantage of the opportunity to play a curtain-raiser match at Zions Bank Stadium before the Utah Warriors-Houston Sabrecats MLR contest. It's been a strange start to the year for both teams.  Herriman is off to a good start, but has been working with some depth issues, with two returning starters pursuing other endeavors this spring (but expected back next year as seniors), three more out of town for this match with family commitments, and another four starters nursing injuries, the game put their depth to the test. Several 9th- and 10th-graders were called in to action on short notice. 

East, meanwhile, has taken lessons from the Ra Puriri Invitational and has worked to refine their game and solve some depth issues of their own, adding several players per week as the month progresses but not able to get much game time in and eager to get back on the pitch.

East had the opening kickoff on a beautiful 75-degree day that contrasted with a Monday snowstorm that began the week. Herriman was awarded a scrum off of their opening kick return just in front of the 22, but hit the ensuing clearing kick a bit too strong and out on the full, giving East an attacking lineout deep in Herriman territory. But a forced knock-on and a booming kick from All-American Sake Tukuafu got Herriman deep into East territory. 

Cam Connors, back on the field for the first time since scoring five tries at last year's nationals, chased down the kick and turned it over quickly. A few phases later, Herriman took a penalty kick for touch and from the lineout openside Afa Kula made two defenders miss on his way to score.

In what would become a common occurrence throughout the day, Herriman misjudged the restart and let it bounce, putting them under pressure and leading to a knock-on.  East went to work pounding the ball with a large forward pack, and worked the ball down to two meters away from scoring, but Tukuafu jumped on an errant pass and McQueen hit a huge box kick, with Jack Larsen giving excellent chase. Lock Isaiah Caver stole the East lineout and a Connors kick (again chased down by an active Larsen) turned the ball over and put Herriman on the front foot.  Tukuafu eventually jumped in to steal a wide pass by East and was gone 30 meters to score Herriman's second.

Another sloppy Herriman kick reception gave East an attacking ball and some ill discipline at the breakdown conceded a penalty, which East tapped and worked through several patient phases until the their big forwards finally found some daylight and closed the gap to 14-7.

East took their own turn mishandling a restart, and some strong running from Kula and Caver got Herriman close. Some sloppy offense and good defense on both sides ultimately put Herriman back on attack and Tukuafu sidestepped one defender before hitting inserting fullback Josiah Dunn. Dunn committed his defender and fed Youngblood in stride for try in the corner.

After a free kick from the scrum Herriman was on the attack again and center Dane Ellermeier cut through for 30 before linking with McQueen, who put Youngblood award. That made it 26-7.

East struck immediately from the second half kickoff with a beautiful kick return, some broken tackles and a few athletic offloads, and kept the ball alive all the way down the field to put down an exciting try less than a minute into the half.

East had some chances to work the ball down the field after that, but stern defense by Youngblood and Dunn forced a knock on.

Herriman then put the game away with two quick tries. Connors took a pass and dummied; he was through for 30 meters before offloading to Tukuafu in support for his second try on the day. Connors provided the highlights again from the ensuing restart, fielding a McQueen box kick on the bounce and sprinting nearly 50 meters to score.

East answered with their most patient attack on the day, working the ball down the field through several phases and a few penalties to eventually touch down for an unconverted try.  Herriman would answer right back with a booming clearance from Dunn leading to a turnover and a burst from Ellermeier setting up Caden Syddall for a try under the posts. Syddall was good on the conversion ending a 6-for-7 day with the boot to make it 47-19. East worked their way down the field against the Herriman reserves for a try at the death to close the final tally to 47-24.

East should take some good momentum from their second half play in to their remaining schedule and will be happy to play games more consistently, and though Herriman's injury woes got worse with the loss of another starter this game, they will be happy to welcome back three key players next week who had to miss this contest. Even so the young players made an impact and didn't back down from the challenge.

Both teams stuck around to enjoy the MLR game afterward, featuring Herriman alum Tomasi Tonga starting for the Warriors, as well as Paul Lasike and Danny Christensen, who were coached by Herriman Director Jeff Wilson and Head Coach Elvis Hansen back when they were on staff together at Highland.

"We are happy to get the win against an always tough East side who typically brings their best effort when we play them," said Wilson. "Hats off to East, they never let up and made us work hard for everything that we got. I was really pleased with the way we continued to refine our structure and saw some nice movements in open play and some excellent line speed at times. That said, we're still searching for more consistency in all phases of the game with a lineup that has had to change weekly, and we had too many lapses today.  We will need to tighten some things up with an outstanding United side coming to visit this next week."