The University of Oregon controlled the tempo and field position and put a stranglehold on Western Washington to win the Northeast Collegiate Rugby Conference championship game 31-3 Saturday.

Played at Oregon’s home in Eugene, Ore., the final was very tight early on. WWU worked the phases nicely and while Oregon’s defense held, the Vikings were still putting the Ducks under pressure.

But an interception try turned the momentum around, and after that Oregon started to keep more of the possession.

Oregon also won the kicking game, constantly putting Western under pressure and not allowing WWU to get a platform in Oregon territory.

“Our game plan was to keep the ball in the Vikings’ half,” said Oregon Head Coach Pate Tuisa. “We just needed to play the game in their half. After that we needed to apply pressure defensively and hoping to capitalize on mistakes.”

And it worked. It worked beautifully, and Oregon dominated the flow of the game. Western had a ton of work to do to get out of their own 22, and the Ducks simply didn’t let them.

Oregon can now look ahead to the DIAA spring playoffs in April at Stanford University.