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After a one year respite one of collegiate sport’s greatest rivalries will be renewed on the campus of Brigham Young University where perennial national champion the University of California will look to upend the defending national champion BYU Cougars at their home venue of South Field Stadium in the Varsity Cup National Collegiate Rugby Championship this Saturday, May 4th at 1pm MT. In the last eight years the Golden Bears and Cougars have met for the national championship seven times—a streak of collegiate sport dominance unrivaled by other varsity sports. With the consensus national championship match looming large players from both teams shared their thoughts on what fans of both schools know will be an epic showdown on South Field.

BYU beat Glendale Raptor’s Division II team 101-13 in the 2014 season home-opener.

The #3 ranked Cougars found redemption against the #1 ranked St. Mary’s College who had beat BYU earlier in the 2014 season. Final score 35-21.

PROVO, Utah—The reigning collegiate champion Cougars and the defending men’s division champion San Francisco Golden Gate squared off Saturday afternoon on South Field in Provo for the Champions Challenge. After getting off to a great start, BYU outlasted a furious Golden Gate comeback attempt and was able to hold on for the 45-33 victory.

PROVO, Utah– BYU rugby didn’t get off to the strong start they were hoping for in Wednesday night’s game against Cal Poly. The Cougars found themselves down 10-0 in only the seventh minute. BYU got off to a slow start but came back to beat Cal Poly on a cold, wet night in Provo. Photo courtesy of Dave Brinton. “We didn’t start well and then the bad weather came in spoiled any chance of having a free-flowing game,” BYU head coach David Smyth said. It wouldn’t take long for the Cougars to turn things around. BYU’s Josh Whippy scored in the 11th minute to get the Cougars on the board. Whippy would score again in the first half along with Jordan Lowry and Johnny Linehan to give the Cougars a 24-15 lead going into halftime. The second half started off cold, windy and wet, but the adjustments made by the Cougars continued to pay off. BYU captain Johnny Linehan scored a try in the 42nd minute to extend the Cougar lead to 31-15. Cal Poly would answer right back with a try in the 48th minute to bring the Mustangs within nine points, down 31-22. Unfortunately for Cal Poly, those were the last points they saw. BYU’s defense tightened up and didn’t allow the Mustangs to score another try for the rest of the game. Linehan would kick two more penalty kicks in the second half as the Cougars held on for 37-22 win. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ll learn from it and keep getting better moving forward,” Smyth said. With the win, BYU moves to 12-1 on the season. However, the Cougars won’t have much time to savor Wednesday’s victory as San Francisco Golden Gate comes to South Field for a Saturday matchup with the Cougars in Provo for the Champions Challenge. “We’ll spend the week in practice trying to get ready for what we think they’ll throw at us,” Smyth said. “We’ll be back again on Saturday and hopefully things go our way.” Saturday’s game will begin at 1:00 p.m. MDT and can be followed live on BYU’s YouTube channel or via Twitter.

PROVO, Utah—No.3 BYU rugby jumped ahead of No.9 Utah early Friday night and was able to hang on to win 41-21 in front of a standing-room-only crowd at South Field. With the victory, the Cougars beat the Utes for the ninth time in 10 to keep the Wasatch Cup in Provo for another year.

Provo, UT—The BYU Cougars weathered the rainy and windy conditions today on South Field to beat the formidable Naval Academy Midshipmen to advance to the Varsity Cup National Championship by the score of 60 to 0.

BYUtv Sports reporter, Skyler Hardman goes on the field with BYU Rugby as they seek to win their third straight national championship against Cal this weekend. For more check out byutvsports.com/trueblue.

BYU Rugby came into the 2014 Varsity Cup Championship game looking to win its third straight national championship and second straight Varsity Cup Championship. The Cougars faced a tough University of California team in a rematch of the 2013 Varsity Cup Championship, and were able to hold off a late Golden Bears rally to win 43-33.

BYU Rugby came into the 2014 Varsity Cup Championship game looking to win its third straight national championship and second straight Varsity Cup Championship. The Cougars faced a tough University of California team in a rematch of the 2013 Varsity Cup Championship, and were able to hold off a late Golden Bears rally to win 43-33.