It is a rivalry that will always have friction, no matter the mutual respect. Whether the away team is making the four-hour trip from Pullman to Seattle, or from Seattle to Pullman, the Apple Cup is always worth the wait. And though it may not be the official name of the game when it comes to rugby, the intensity is still the same.

“It’s about pride more than it is a rivalry,” University of Washington Head Coach Shawn Loudenback said. “However, it is always a tough game and WSU plays out of their minds.” The scoreboard would agree, as the Cougars outran and overpowered the Huskies 32-8 on a windy Saturday afternoon.

“We worked on the basic things like rucking, mauling and tackling during practice,” Washington State University Head Coach Matt Hudson said. “We got the win and it feels good, especially against UW, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Lead by strong play from the forwards, especially No. 8 Jarred Riffe, the Cougar’s dominance in the scrums and rucks were key ingredients in the game. It started with Riffe’s pick off the scrum for the first score followed by two from flanker Rowan Ringer and another from prop Matias Narvaja.

“We played with great fundamentals today,” Ringer said. “It’s great when the things you practice come together and work in a game like they did today.”

For the Huskies, it seemed as though things just weren’t clicking. Whenever momentum was turning in their favor, ill-advised passes and knock-ons hurt scoring opportunities. These are fundamentals that can plague and frustrate a team as young as the Huskies, who only have two seniors on the starting squad.

“We made some scrum adjustments at the half because our starting three [props and hooker] are freshman,” Loudenback said. “WSU had the physicality going for them and played a good basic game.”

Saturday’s game marked the first matchup between the Cougars and Huskies in league play and was the first for WSU in over a year. WSU will carry that momentum into next week’s matchup with Eastern Washington Eagles. The Huskies have a week to lick their wounds, and then travel to Bellingham to play Western Washington.