The regular season is coming to an end in Utah Youth Rugby, and the playoffs are looming, and if any multi-school teams are thinking about winning a state title, they best plan on getting through the West Valley Warriors.

The Warriors are 8-0 at present, having just logged a 34-21 victory over the highly-regarded Kau Toa team. They have beaten United in a non-league game, and look to finish off a perfect regular season against West Jordan this weekend.

Last year, West Valley won the JV state title, and those JV players - many of them at least - are now joining a core of veterans on the varsity team.

“We feel really good about this team,” said one of the Warrior coaches, Epoki Mahina. “We are able to attack teams in different ways. We have big boys in the forwards who can win lineouts, but they can also run like backs. We can play a flat attack and spread the field, and we’ve been able to do that, too.”

Leading the way for the Warrios is an impressive back row that includes No. 8 Tevita Tauvao, while flankers Tielu Tiatia and Jordan Lutui are speedy and aggressive.

Wing Ma’afu Mahina is exceedingly fast, and he gets the ball served up nicely by flyhalt Piliote Tupou and power-running center Sione Tautaina.

Those players along with the likes of Ty Carlson and Colton Swapp, have benefited greatly from playing select-side rugby in 15s and 7s. 

All of these pieces - the all-stars, the JVs, the big boys and the speedsters - seem to be coming into place. West Valley is 3-0 in the Central Conference n Utah’s multi-school-team league. Kau Toa leads the Northern with a 4-0 record, but, as we’ve said, the Warriors already beat them.

Genesis and United lead the Southern Conference with 3-0 records. Those two play each other this weekend.