BYU rugby: Cougars fall to Cal in hard-fought title tilt

SANDY — BYU rugby coach David Smyth knows it's not fun being the bridesmaid.

For the fifth time in six seasons, the Cougars fell to Cal in the College Premier Division rugby national championship, 21-14, on Saturday night.

This time it happened at Rio Tinto Stadium.

"Just to get (to the championship game) is a good thing," Smyth said. "But I'm a little bit disappointed because I'm a little tired of getting here and not winning. We've got to figure out a way to fix that."

BYU knocked off Cal in 2009 in the title tilt, but the Bears have won the other five showdowns between the two powerhouse programs.

Cal (27-0) led 21-7 late in the second half, and staved off a BYU (15-1) rally to capture the national crown.

The Bears devised, and executed, a perfect game plan against the Cougars — which centered around keeping the ball away from BYU's speedy players.

"They starved us of the ball. We're usually a team that likes to get it and swing it and keep it open," Smyth said. "But they came in prepared not to let us do that. But it was great to be here. It was a great experience. The boys are a little down right now, but we'll spring back."

"I really do believe that if (BYU) would have had those lineout balls, it would have been a different story," said Cal coach Jack Clark.

BYU team captain Ryan Roundy said he and his teammates squandered too many opportunities.

"We knew coming in that if we made too many mistakes against this team, it was going to kill us. That's what happened," Roundy said. "We didn't execute a few plays and we lost a few balls and it ended up costing us the game.

"Cal was a better team on the day. Every time we started to get something going, we'd drop the ball or give it right back to them. We made it hard on ourselves."

The contest was scoreless until the 23rd minute of the first half, when Cal's Derek Asbun broke through with a try. The conversion, and a penalty kick, gave the Bears an early 10-0 advantage.

Apenisa Malani put BYU on the board in the 37th minute with a try. Cal answered on a penalty kick to make the score 13-7 at halftime.

The Bears extended their lead to 21-7 before the Cougars' Sosaia Leaaetoa scored a try to cut the deficit to 21-12. Shawn Davies' conversion made it 21-14 at the 68-minute mark.