In a fight for the Eastern Rockies Rugby Football Union’s (ERRFU)Rocky Mountain Challenge U-19 Championship, tournament unbeatens Texas and Utah squared off at the Aurora Sports Park Sunday afternoon.
The two evenly matched sides where both coming off 3-0 performances in the pool stage Saturday and Sunday morning and hoped to carry their momentum into the final.
Texas had the first opportunity to put points on the board following a Minnesota penalty, but the thirty five-meter kick sailed wide, and it was left to the defense to hold the score level at 0-0. The game remained deadlocked until Texas crossed the try line (conversion successful) for the half’s only score and took a 7-0 lead into halftime.
| 2010 Rocky Mountain Challenge | ||||
| Aurora, Colorado | ||||
| Under 19 - Sunday, June 20, 2010 | ||||
| Championship | Fifth Place | |||
| Texas | 7 | ERRFU | 37 | |
| Utah | 3 | Wisconsin | 5 | |
| Third Place | Seventh Place | |||
| Minnesota | 34 | Florida | 20 | |
| Heart of America | 5 | Arizona | 5 | |
Defense was once again was the story in the second half as both Texas and Utah disrupted each other’s ability to move the ball effectively inside of twenty-two meters.
A penalty deep in Texas territory gave Utah its first opportunity to put points on the board. Utah’s successful penalty conversion closed the gap to within four, but despite deep penetrations by both sides, that would be the only score of the half, and Texas went on to win the 2010 Rocky Mountain Challenge U-19 Championship 7-3.
In the tournament’s other finals, Minnesota dominated Heart of America for third place, ERRFU (Colorado) defeated Wisconsin for fifth place, and Florida took the seventh spot with a win over Arizona.
About High U-19 Rugby
In the U-19 division, eight select sides (equivalent to all state), representing their regional rugby unions from across the country, competed in two pools of four teams each. The top two pool winners advanced to Sunday’s U-19 Final, and the remainder moved in to their respective playoffs based on their performances in the three pool matches.
U-19 and high school rugby matches are typically played in two thirty minute halves with a ten-minute halftime. To accommodate rules limiting high school athletes to 90 minutes of play in a single day, tournaments where teams play two games each day, such as the Rocky Mountain Challenge, shorten halves to 27 minutes each.
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About the Rocky Mountain Challenge
The Rocky Mountain Challenge is one of five regional tournaments in the United States where USA Rugby evaluates emerging players for its Elite High Performance Development System.
Selected players may have the opportunity to compete as part of the Under 20 and Under 18 USA National Teams.
Both teams will represent the United States in international competitions during 2010.
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