The Annual Ra Puriri Invitational took place this weekend at Snow Canyon High School in St. George, Utah.  The warm-up event gives several teams the opportunity to come together and get some early season games in to help prepare for the season, as well as engage in the spirit of rugby brotherhood.  The tournament included 6 teams – Snow Canyon, United, Herriman, Olympus, Red Mountain, and Las Vegas Blackhawks (a late fill-in for Orcas(CA) who had to cancel).

Snow Canyon and United entered the event with some momentum from nice showings at the Storer Classic, with Olympus also getting an early start at the same event.  By contrast, Herriman came in with only a handful of practices under their belt, and perhaps were looking forward to getting on the field and being able to focus on rugby after a tough week dealing with the death of Bryson Hathaway, a popular football and baseball player at Herriman HS who was a close friend of many players on the team.

Day 1 saw Snow Canyon have little trouble with the Blackhawks, while Herriman overcame some typical first game sloppiness to dispatch a pesky Olympus side 27-7 led by two tries from Taysan Hammer along with one each from Sterling Burr, Fisher Jackson, and Tyson Herrera.  

Red Mountain and United played the game of the night, with a veteran United squad hanging on against a well-organized Red Mountain squad 12-10 under the lights at the football stadium. 

Snow Canyon, who were excellent hosts throughout the weekend, provided all of the teams with a Lasagna dinner and some opportunities for players from other programs to get to know each other off the field in the spirit of rugby brotherhood.

Snow Canyon took care of Olympus to start day 2, while Red Mountain was clinical in a blowout win over the Blackhawks.

The Herriman team took part in a quick ceremony to honor Hathaway just before the next game, quietly slipping over to the Snow Canyon baseball field where their fallen friend had played many baseball games.  At 11:11am (honoring Hathaway’s #11) they released Herriman-colored balloons from second base (his position) and vowed to play with the heart and determination that the undersized but ultracompetitive Hathaway always did.

Herriman 15 United 7

The Herriman-United matchup that followed was competitive and hard fought, as is always the case between the two rivals.  United nearly scored in the opening minutes of the game, using excellent defense to keep Herriman pinned deep in their territory and force a penalty.  After nearly scoring on a lineout maul from Bailey Wilson, United turned the ball over near the try line, and Maea Leakehe was able to clear for the Mustangs.  Leakehe was able to flip the field again with an open field tackle, a quick poach, and another kick ahead.  Herriman’s repeated attempts to put pressure in to the opposing territory coupled with United’s inability to clear the ball effectively led to a handling error which saw the ball bouncing in the open field.  Speedy scrumhalf Gavin Flint scooped up the ball and raced down the sideline to touch down for a try in the corner and a 5-0 lead for Herriman.

United tried to probe the Herriman defense with attacking run from Wilson, Billy Tenney, Eli Pulu, and others.  The Herriman defense was up to the task, though, with several jarring stops by Jake Anderson and some smart counter rucking to turn over possession.  Mariano Delgado, Mafi Mahuinga, and Taysan Hammer nearly set up another Herriman score before Herrera was smartly dragged out of bounds by Pulu.  A United clearing kick would find the hands of Herrera, who angled in on the counterattack and eventually worked the ball to opposite wing Burr, who nearly scored.  Jake Barker would take the ball close to the ensuing ruck and sidestep, then reach over for the try to extend the advantage to 10-0.

The Mustangs would strike again immediately, spinning the ball out from the ensuing kickoff to Hammer, who hit an outside gap and drew a defender down the sideline, then passed inside to a streaking Leakehe in support in what announcer and Snow Canyon Athletic Director called “beautiful rugby.”  Herriman almost made it 3 tried in 3 minutes when the United restart was short and Leakehe punched a deft pop kick over the defense from the ensuing center scrum.  Herrera gathered the ball in stride, but great hustle saw a United defender force him out of bounds at the 5 meter line to end the half at 15-0.

United would get on the front foot right away in the second half, and runs by Tenney and Wilson nearly netted them points, but a penalty would thwart their efforts.  Herriman would work the ball all the way down to the other end, with a large chunk coming from sophomore Flyhalf Kingi Fisi’ipeau darting through an outside gap, but United would smartly poach the ball after a few more phases.  The ball would spend the next 10 minutes in Herriman territory as United was persistent on attack, but both teams would show the expected early season rust with handling errors and small miscues.  United’s efforts would finally pay off with a Herriman penalty from 8 meters out giving the opportunistic Wilson an opening for a quick tap, which he exploited to touch down for a converted try and cut the lead to 15-7, but United had spent a great deal of time in the shortened game (25 minute halves were played to help teams better manage the 90-minute per day IRB rule with two games on Saturday) and now found themselves in a hurry, needing two scores to take the lead. 

They would once again probe the Herriman defense repeatedly, but it seemed that every promising attack was thwarted by the defense of Herrera, one of only three returning starters for Herriman who showed why he was the Region Defensive MVP in football this past fall.  True to their pre-game promise, the Mustangs played with great heart and determination against an impressive and veteran United squad that is sure to make lots of noise on the national scene this year.

Herriman Over Olympucs, Blackhawks

Olympus and the Blackhawks, each looking for a win on the weekend, would play an entertaining and aggressive match that saw Olympus pull away late and gain some needed momentum going in to the regular season.  Herriman would take the field again after a short rest to take on perpetual Arizona champ Red Mountain, who often looked to be one of the cleanest and most polished teams in the field, perhaps owing to their warm weather allowing them to get out and practice during winter.  Red Mountain would jump out to a quick lead, moving the ball quickly from the breakdown and catching Herriman a bit slow to match up.  The conversion would be missed, but a 5-0 lead and a well-organized attack had things looking good for the visitors from Arizona.  

Herriman would answer with a take from Jake Barker on the restart and a punishing run by prop Mariano Delgado to reach over for the score, and would add a score from No. 8 Fisher Jackson from a 5-meter scrum to end the half up 12-5 in a sloppy first half by both teams, who were starting to show the effects of early season lack of fitness with passes that were ill advised or not quite crisp, and a deterioration in timing and execution.  That sloppiness was well managed by referee Eric Norgate, who will provide a great boost to the already stellar UYR pool of officials after returning from a three-year move to England.

Herriman Head Coach Derek Smith would take his players to task for the sloppy play at halftime, telling the starters they had 5 minutes in the second half to make something happen.  They met the challenge, with Jackson stealing a lineout in RM territory to set up a try and a 19-5 advantage.  Smith, using the tournament’s open sub rules to get a run for as many players as possible to prepare for the season, proceeded to mass sub all 15 starters off of the field and get a look at some less experienced players.  Red Mountain would capitalize with two quick scores to close the gap to 19-15 and make for an exciting finish.  With the Mustang offense out of sync with all of the new faces, the defense finally tightened up, making several stands inside the 22m line.  Will Hall finally made the break that Herriman needed from a scrum, and Mafi Mahuinga continued his great form on the weekend by pounding the ball mercilessly until finally barreling over for a score that would set the final at Herriman 24 Red Mountain 15.

In addition to the 3-0 record for the tournament, Smith was most pleased that he was able to give 38 different players significant varsity game time over the weekend, and that the team was able to overcome a tough week back home with a positive showing to put some much needed smiles on their faces. 

The marquee games of the Invitational is always the Snow Canyon-United game, whose head coaches are brothers and are sons of the tournament’s namesake, Ra Puriri (Michael and Colin Puriri, respectively).  Both teams came in to the game with squads on very good form, and the game was once again a classic, with Snow Canyon jumping out to an early lead thanks to the foot of incredibly skilled flyhalf Andy Day, and United surging back, perhaps with something to prove after their loss earlier in the day.  In the end, United took a hard fought classic 20-12 over the hosts, giving each team a final record of 2-1 for the weekend.

The event also featured a 9/10 grade competition, which saw close matches in which almost every result was decided by 5 or less points.  Olympus would end up as the class of the younger division, posting a 3-0 record on the weekend with strong play from wing Preston Numbers among others, while United, Snow Canyon, Red Mountain, and Herriman all were pleased to get their squads an early season run.