The Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference championship will be decided Saturday as Western Washington hosts the University of Washington.

These two teams have already met, when on March 5 Western came away with a 26-17 victory. Aside from a loss to Gonzaga when they played two away games in two days, that was the closest result for WWU in conference play.

This weekend’s game promises to be equally close. UW has been steadily improving, and their shutout of Washington State in last week’s semifinal shows that they can handle a physical, must-win game.

Nick Gadbaw continues to be a big part of the Husky Rugby effort in the midfield, scoring tries and, more importantly, setting the defensive wall.

For WWU, Oliver Daugherty continues to be a try machine, and Nate Muir is a tough customer in the rucks. Western is a physical team, but their best asset is a smooth backline that scores tries - often by Daugherty.

The winner of this game will host at-large playoff team Utah State in the DIAA playoffs Round of 16.