PROVO, Utah -- The BYU rugby team will try to win their third straight national title championship on Saturday, when they take on the California Bears at Rio Tinto Stadium.
This will be the eighth time in the last nine years that BYU and Cal will square off for the national title.
“It’s a rivalry,” said BYU captain Kyle Sumsion. “We hate and love Cal. We love playing them, but we hate losing to them.”
“We respect them a lot,” said BYU sophomore Jonny Linehan. “They’re a fantastic program. It’s just going to be a battle, so Saturday can’t come soon enough.”
The Cougars have formed a unique team with players coming together from nine different countries.
“We’re just like brothers from another mothers,” Linehan said. “We love each other no matter where we are from or no matter what upbringing we had. It just meshes together because we just have the uniqueness about our team.”
“In my opinion, there’s no better team in the world than BYU rugby,” Sumison said. “We all play for each other. We’re best friends on the field and also best friends off the field and have each others' back."
