The UW rugby team suffered defeat at the hands of Colorado in a 22-27 match
Wyoming men’s rugby (#7) faced an upsetting loss this past Saturday against Colorado University (#10) who took the match in the final minutes 22-27.
“Between CU and us, we usually have a really hard competition,” said flanker Derek Eggerman. “It’s usually back and forth; it’s always really close games. We wanted to just make ‘em hurt by the end of the game, win or lose. The second half we were unfit and we just made careless mistakes throughout. It was just small mistakes that really cost us.”
The Cowboys gained the first points in the game after a series of infractions. In the fourth minute, scrum half Alex Knowles kicked a penalty putting UW up 3-0.
CU gained possession and drove the ball down field effectively against Wyoming’s defense.
In the eighth minute, flanker Jean Claude Trublet de Nermont scored a try. CU gained the lead and maintained it for the next 20 minutes of play.
By the fourteenth minute, CU wing Jacob Shomer gained a secondary try to lead over UW 10-3.
The first try for Wyoming came in the 28th minute. Breaking the dry spell was 8-man Tim Mendoza to put Wyoming back in the match 8-10.
A recovered ball by Wyoming quickly put them back into scoring position. Captain and outside center Bobby Watkins scored the second try for Wyoming in the 32nd minute to take the lead. Knowles took the kick for a successful conversion extending the lead to 15-10.
Into the second, Wyoming gained and maintained a lead until the last twenty minutes of play. Hooker Reese Smith had a try in the 43rd minute, followed by another conversion by Knowles. Wyoming led 22-15.
CU gained two more trys and a conversion to take a victory over Wyoming. Their final try came in the last minute of play to leave the Cowboys hanging their heads.
“We wanted to win,” said head coach David Finnoff. “I told them they had an opportunity to win this game and that if they put every ounce of effort that they could onto the field they would [win]. They are very very unlucky to have not won that game. I wanted to make sure that we pressured defense a lot better than we had the week before. We’re going to work a little bit harder. Try and clear up our areas that we have to work on where we were making mistakes and quite frankly we are going to circle the wagons. We can win this.
They will next face CSU 1:00 p.m. Saturday at East Frat Mall.
