East Rugby squared off with defending National Champion United this past weekend in Sandy.  It was a sunny day with a little bit of wind.  The Leopards were facing a very skilled and smart opponent.  East came out of the gate with great intensity and scored first.  The forward pack established a presence with the pick and jam and put together a few phases of play.  Jesse Afuvai took the ball from the breakdown and touched the ball down for the score.  Minutes later East maintained an aggressive attack and Joe Tukuafu cut back on the United defense for the second score of the game.  No conversions were made up to this point leaving the score 10 to 0 for East.  United would not give up and they were able to rally toward the end of the second half with 3 scores and 1 conversion making the half time score East 10 – United 17.

Coming out of the half United caught the leopards off guard and scored right away.  From that point on for the next 20 minutes it was a battle back and forth.  The Leopards were down 22 to 10 but capitalized on a United mistake, the Leopards worked the ball through the back line to wing Malakai Solovi who took it 75 meters for the score.  With the Sione Mafi conversion good, this brought East within 5 points with a score of East 17 – United 22.  East continued to battle and there was still time on the clock but East was not able to get any more points on the board.  United scored on the last possession of the game bringing the final to East 17 – United 29.

As a coaching staff we were very proud of the way the boys played.  “We showed significant improvement from the game last week to today’s match.  We just need to keep improving” said Back Coach Andrew Swindle.  We look forward to our next match up against West Jordan this coming weekend