The BYU Cougars notched 8 tries in their 44-5 victory over the Aggies of Texas A&M today at the Las Vegas Invitational.

BYU newcomer prop Kody Thompson started the scoring in the 3rd minute after a quick series of phases from a BYU counter attack.

Soem frustrated moments followed however as the Cougars were penalized for repeated infringement at the breakdown that eventually led to flanker Jeff Ott's 11th minute yellow card.

"Texas A&M is a solid team," said BYU captain Ryan Roundy, "We wanted to try and put them under some pressure, but it sort of came back to bite us a bit early on."

The Cougars would get back to their try-scoring ways with wing Will Taylor, freshman scrum half Luke Mocke and All American center Seki Kofe carrying the BYU score sheet.

With two conversion from freshman fly half Jonny Linehan BYU led at the break 24-0.

Both teams worked to adjust their strategies at half time but it flanker Kyle Sumsion who finally broke the scoring dead lock in the second with a 55th minute try.

Center Chris Wernli also saw the end zone in the 58th minute but both tries went unconverted and the Cougars edged to a 34-0 lead.

Both teams finished the game well with strong defense which led to both BYU's 72nd minute try and the Aggies' lone try in the 74th minute.

Wing Andrew Carver closed out the try-scoring for BYU in the 77th minute.

The Cougars suffered a poor day kicking in spite of the heavy wind making just two of their eight conversation attempts leaving 12 points wandering.

Regarding his team's overall performance against the Aggies Smyth's sentiment was lukewarm.

"It was an average performance today from a team that's trying to find its identity," Smyth said, "We need to protect the ball better and be more clinical in attack. The effort is there, we just need to be more rugby savvy."

The Cougars return home today to rest up and prepare for the first of BYU's three games with top men's clubs next Saturday.

BYU and 2012 Men's Division Runners-Up Old Puget Sound Beach RFC will meet in St. George, UT next weekend as the Cougars and Serevi Rugby co-host a rugby camp in Southern Utah capped by the BYU vs. OPSB clash on Saturday at 1.30pm.

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MATCH INFORMATION:
BYU XV vs. UCLA

Dave Collins
Ray Forrester
Kody Thompson
TJ Allred
Kyle Lontine
Jeff Ott
Kyle Sumsion
Ryan Roundy (c)
Luke Mocke
Jonathan Linehan
Jordan Lowry
Seki Kofe
Chris Wernli
Andrew Carver
Will Taylor
*Open Substitutions

SCORING:
BYU: 44
Tries: Thompson 3'; Taylor 16'; Mocke 23'; Kofe 33'; Sumsion 55'; Wernli 58'; Williams 74'; Carver 77'
Conversions: Linehan (2/8: 23', 33')
Yellow Card: Ott 11'

Texas A&M: 5
Tries: A&M (74')
Conversions: 0/1