Provo Provides Utah Youth Rugby Surprise
Provo Provides Utah Youth Rugby Surprise
The queens of Utah Rugby were knocked off their throne at least for a weekend in Utah Youth Rugby's girls HS fall 7s.
United went 4-0 in last week's tournament, and won three in a row on Saturday this week, but the perennial state leaders ran into a very strong Provo team in the final.
United beat Brighton 36-12, Kearns/South Davis 37-7, and Majestics 17-12, and maybe only the closeness of that last game suggested they might be vulnerable. Provo, meanwhile, were pushed by Brighton 19-17, but beat Kearns/South Davis 50-0 and Majestics 29-7, thus looking a bit more dominant than United.
That showed in the final. Provo's defense was stout, and after a bit of a feeling-out period, the Steelers broke through for two long-range tries. United struggled to break through, and at the same time, Provo worked hard to rip the ball free and produce some turnover opportunities. The Steelers powerful forwards set up two more tries for a 26-7 lead before United ended the game with a consolation try.
It was a notice for everyone else in the state that the season is not a forgone conclusion. United can be beaten.
With six teams in the girls bracket the teams were split into two pools, with the top three from last week in one, and the bottom three from last week in the other. The teams in each pool then didn't play each other; they played the teams in the other pool. That is why two teams in Pool A ended up 3-0.
Majestics did very well, playing United close and also beating Wasatch 19-17.
Brighton | 12-36 | United |
Kearns/South Davis | 5-36 | Wasatch |
Majestics | 7-29 | Provo |
Kearns/South Davis | 7-37 | United |
Majestics | 19-17 | Wasatch |
Brighton | 17-19 | Provo |
Brighton | 12-15 | Wasatch |
Majestics | 12-17 | United |
Kearns/South Davis | 0-50 | Provo |
That set up the placement games. There, as we noted, Provo won the final, and Majestics beat Wasatch again, taking third.
Final: Provo 26-14 United
3rd/4th: Majestics 24-17 Wasatch
5th/6th: Brighton 30-0 Kearns/South Davis