Rugby awaits Regional showdown at home
The four-team tournament will begin on Friday with the Beavers taking on nationally ranked Chico State at Peavy Field at 1 p.m.
Noah Tinker
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: Sports
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The winner of the contest will face the winner of the match between fourth-ranked Utah and unranked Washington State, which follows at 3 p.m. Friday.
Coach Duffin McShane has been practicing his team hard over the past week in preparation for the tournament.
"Our main focus has been working together as a team, our defense and controlling the ball at the point of contact," McShane said.
McShane has paid special attention to how his team plays on defense and exploiting his opponents' defense.
"I'm a big believer in the ability of a defense setting the tone," McShane said. "But we also need to focus on getting the ball out from the point of contact in the scrum within three seconds in order to create gaps in the opposing defense and not exert ourselves too much or tire ourselves out."
Earlier in the season, the Beavers and Wildcats played to a hard-fought tie after OSU had established an early lead. Friday's matchup will allow the two sides to decide once and for all who is the better team.
McShane relishes the opportunity and sees the earlier outcome as a fluke.
"We dominated them," McShane said.
In order to pull off the win, the Beavers will have to "increase our pressure and move the ball from the point of contact faster," according to McShane.
Club President A.J. Kinhnaruth attributes the outcome to a lack of overall experience. "We were really young back then. We had a lot of brand new guys," Kinhnaruth said.
However, he believes this time will be different.
"A lot of the freshmen have really stepped up in the past few months, and that's going to make a really big difference."
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