Life University is, as expected, the CRAA Women's D1 champions.
The way they accomplished that feat was, unfortunately, not what anyone would have wanted. Their quarterfinal game was a forfeit. Their semifinal game was won by three digits. Their final was called early.
The decision to call the final at halftime with Life leading BYU 40-14 was the right one, but still unfortunate.
The game itself was played at Heart Health Park in Sacramento as a curtain-raiser for the USA-vs-New Zealand / Canada-vs-Australia match. That, of course, had an effect on the decision-making.
From the kickoff Life exploded into their relentless attack. Being able to control the point of contact and also having the skills to zip the ball wide, the Running Eagles have dominated their opposition all year.
A daily-training-environment program unique in American rugby, they tried this year to play in what was essentially three separate competitions, women's club, a regional club competition, and against CRAA D1 opponents. They even found an All-Star team to play against at the CRAA Fall Classic.
The result? Going into this final and not counting forfeits, they were 13-0, averaging (averaging) 81-6 as a scoreline.
They had already beaten BYU 95-7.
So a 12th-minute try from Azhinaye Barner, speeding around to the edge, was almost like it took too much time.
But just a couple of minutes later Danie Taulua finished off a long sequence. Nina Mason added another soon thereafter and Barner got her second by slicing up the middle superbly. Mason converted three of those and it was 26-0 after 24 minutes.
The Cougars got one back when center Alyssa Hine snagged a pass and zipped in untouched from 20 meters. Flyhalf Avery Morgan converted and it was now 26-7.
The Cougars were working their way out of their end but a strong double-tackle from front-rowers Sofia Fernandez and Danie Taulua followed up by some powerful counter-rucking from the pair set it up for flanker Christina Opeti to snag the ball and race in for a try, showing some silky running to cut through two defenders.
BYU's response saw them power down to the Life line and then Morgan took an angle and fended off a tackler to score. She converted nicely and it was 33-14.
Right off the restart, BYU caught the ball and carried it up. Opeti poached the ball out of the ensuing tackle, charged up ahead, and was tackled just before the Cougars' 22.
Scrumhalf Hattie Greenwood fed freshman fullback Cecelia Rose.
She raced through and had Greenwood infield and Rose popped a perfect offload to the scrumhalf to scamper through. This was a truly well-done try. Mason was good on the kick, going 5-for-6, and it was 40-14.
That score remained until halftime, whereupon Mother Nature got involved.
Within a few short moments the sky darkened and a massive thunderstorm swept in. Lightning forced everyone out of the venue and the weather returned. With standard policy being that you don't resume any activity until 30 minutes after the last nearby lightning strike, it just took too long.
Here is the CRAA statement about what happened then.
