The playoffs beckon for Washington State University, but there’s still work to do to get there.

At 3-1-1 the Cougars sit third in the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference, where the top four go into the semifinals. But two games remain on the schedule - 3-2 Oregon this weekend, and 5-0 Washington two weeks later. The good news for WSU is that both games are at home.

“We have played a lot better at home than on the road,” said WSU prop-No. 8 Neal Tilbury. “We’ve had a hard time traveling well, so it’s probably a good thing we host those games.”

Tilbury said the hardest one to take may well have been February 20 at Western Washington, where they didn’t perform well in the first half, but started to bring it on in the second. That game, at least, proved they could hang with the conference leaders.

Last week, WSU beat Eastern Washington 42-7, but again the start was iffy - 10-0 at the break.

“We needed to eliminate mistakes and just play good, fundamental rugby,” said Tilbury. “When we do that we can spread the ball quite a bit, and we’ve had 12 different try-scorers this season, so it shows we are using everybody.”

WSU is a little light in the pack, but the forwards make up for it by working harder and being more aggressive. “Overall we’ve been playing pretty well. Our backline really looks in sync and Jacob Bates has been doing a really good job coaching us. We just need to play better on the road.”

Flanker Kyle Vermeulen is the leading scorer with six tries, and the backline of Blaze Yetter, Joey Malloy, Nate Freimund, Sean Powell, Pacer Said, Angad Singh, and Sean Grim have all shown well.

Powell is yet to miss a penalty goal this season.

Under Bates WSU seems to have thrived, but the former Central Washington star will get his Master’s Degree this spring and move on, leaving the Cougars to look for a new coach. Right now, they’re looking for a place in the national playoffs.

“We know we need to get some good results to finish in the top two in the conference,” said Tilbury. “But if we do that, I think we’ll be tough to beat.”

Notes: WSU is 1-1-1 on the road in conference play, scoring 68 points and allowing 81. At home the Cougars are 2-0, 105-14. They finish the league season with two games at home. A win this weekend over Oregon will clinch a semifinal place. They will need another win or a Western Washington loss to take top 2.