Utah HS Rugby enters its playoff phase now that May is here as the single-school and club playoffs kick off.

Sixteen teams are involved in these playoffs, which culminate next weekend, and so don’t conflict with the Boys NIT, ad thus excusing some teams from having to make a difficult choice.

In the Multi-School bracket, here are the quarterfinal matchups for Saturday:

West Valley v Bountiful

Kau Toa v Orem

United v Skyline

Wasatch v Lowland

Led by the scoring of Tevita Tauelangi and Samual Nathan, West Valley has emerged as a real contender. The Warriors lost an early, but very close, game to Herriman, and then beat defending club champs Kau Toa and United on their way to a 4-1 league record. They lost to Lowland, but didn’t need to win that one. 

They face a Bountiful team that also beat Kau Toa (but by a much smaller margin), and is 4-1-1 in all games. Bountiful could be a road block for the Warriors if they’re not careful.

Kau Toa has struggled against top teams and it seems they just don’t have the unity of play they had last year. Orem might hurt them. The Stallions lost to United two weeks ago, but only by six points, and have only lost against United and West Valley. Among the teams they’ve beaten are Uinta Conference leaders Wasatch. 

United remains one of the top teams in the country, but they’ve made a habit of losing really close games this season. In the end it doesn’t matter that much. United ended up 4-1 in the Timpanogos Conference and did beat Olympus, while losing closes ones to Herriman, West Valley, and Snow Canyon. 

United has made a habit of coming out of a rough early spring to finish May off in impressive fashion. They will do so again.

What Lowland can hang their hat on is a solid outing against West Valley that results in a 41-31 victory. That might be a sign that Lowland is hitting its stride at the right time. But Wasatch was undefeated in conference play, and in fact haven’t really been challenged since their 19-15 win over East in mid-March.

So there are some upset opportunities in these quarterfinals, especially if Orem executes well.

In the single-school quarterfinals, there are some matchups that are even more difficult to call.

Friday sees Olympus against Cedar, while on Saturday it’s East HS at Highland, Pineview at Herriman, and West Jordan at Snow Canyon.

Olympus has been impressively consistent this season and should hand Cedar. Herriman in unbeaten this season, and that includes games against playoff-bound squads such as Highland, West Valley, Wasatch, United, Kautoa, and East. Only United has come close. Pineview was 1-3 in league play.

But it’s fair to say that West Jordan has a shot at unseating a very speedy and effective Snow Canyon team - unlikely, but it could happen. 

Even more fair to say is that East and Highland will be evenly matched. Both have played well at times. Both have been humbled at times.

Highland beat East on April 11 29-22 - there’s not much between them there, as East lost the ball forward going over the the potential tying score at the end of the game. To bolster the claim that there two teams are very close, look at their other common opponents:

V. Herriman Highland lost 51-10, East 57-7. V Olympus, East lost 28-17, Highland 42-25. 

Highland’s powerful forwards could be enough to win, but East can move the ball. This is a complete pick ‘em.