The Lobos were only able to put up 16 points in their D1A-Western Conference matchup against Utah state, as the final score heavily favored the Aggies, 54-16.
With the loss, New Mexico’s rugby squad drops to 0-3 in D1A Conference play, and the team is still searching for the first win of the season.
Although the game didn’t have a lot of positives for UNM, two Lobos were able to score tries.
The Aggies jumped out to an early 15-0 lead, but Montague Chacon, the Lobos’ fly-half, struck in the first half for UNM to give the team its first try, cutting the Aggie lead to 10 points.
New Mexico didn’t seem to get many attacking chances in the Aggies’ territory, but Chacon made the most of that one.
Chacon said the team saw an opportunity to exploit one side of the field, and was able to take advantage of it.
“We ran a series of plays that was going to the left side of the field, and Utah State’s defense just drew in,” Chacon said. “I saw a gap on the left so the scrum just picked and I ran with him, and it was all green from there.”
Things took a turn for the worst though, as the Aggies scored the next 17 points following the Lobos’ first score, surging ahead to a 32-5 halftime lead.
Utah State continued to exploit the defense in the second half, moving the ball with ease. The Lobos did not register more points until the Aggies had stretched the gap to 49-5.
The Lobos were well beyond the 15 under/over mark, which lets teams take a kick to get an opportunity to add three points onto their score.
The Lobos converted the chance and scored two consecutive kicks to try to stop the bleeding. The scores cut things to a 49-11 disadvantage midway through the second half.
The Aggies didn’t let down though, scoring another try to put the Lobos in an even deeper hole.
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But the Lobos kept fighting and scored one more try in the game, giving them two tries and two kicks on the day.
Tyler Davis, a captain for the Lobos, said he knew the Aggies were going to come out aggressive, but didn’t expect to get blown out on the team’s home field.
“We knew that they were going to be physical and we knew they were going to be tough, and we wanted to be able to compete with that physicality,” Davis said. “But they definitely ran harder than us, and I don’t think that we played as hard as we should have.”
Davis said that, despite the blowout loss, there were still signs of good play the team can build on.
Montague said the same, adding that when they stuck to the game plan, the team’s performance was better.
“We weren’t planning to lose that bad,” he said. “When we were implementing the game plan it was working great, but it just wasn’t working constantly.”
The next Lobos home match will take place Nov. 12 when the team faces off against Colorado in another conference showdown.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @matt_narvaiz.
