Riverton's First Win That Counts, and the Best Night Lehi Have Had All Year

Round 3 of the Hopoate Cup 2026 brought the competition back to Burgess Park in Alpine on a Saturday evening, and it produced two very different milestones. The Riverton Seagulls picked up their first two competition points of the year, 74–34. The Lehi Raiders played their best football of 2026 by a distance.

Both of those things are true, and the box score backs them both.

Ten tries between two men for Riverton. Harrison M. scored five. Jarom N. scored five. That does not happen often anywhere, and it happened twice in the same jersey on the same evening. At the other end, Lehi crossed seven times, which is more tries than they had scored in the rest of the season put together.

Riverton land the first blow

The Seagulls did not ease into it. Harrison M. crossed inside the opening minutes, TJ B. added the extras, and before Lehi had settled Jarom N. had scored twice. Sixteen points to nil and barely ten minutes gone.

That is usually where a young side folds. Lehi did the opposite, which we will come back to.

The passage that really shaped the game came after the first water break. From 10–16, Riverton ran off twenty unanswered points before the interval. Jarom N. took his third, James W. finished a good one, TJ B. kept the tee ticking over, and Jarom N. had his fourth before Lehi got back on the board. Half time went up at 14–36.

The Seagulls take it away after the break

Once Riverton weathered the opening ten minutes of the second half, the game got away from Lehi in a hurry. Harrison M. scored, then TJ B. scored, then Harrison M. scored again. The scoreboard went from 24–36 to 24–58 in what felt like one long movement, and it read 24–56 when the referee called the second-half water break.

Jarom N.’s fifth followed, TJ B. converted, and Harrison M. finished with two more to bring up his own five. Twenty points for Harrison M., twenty for Jarom N., and fourteen for TJ B. off one try and five goals.

Harrison M. now leads the Hopoate Cup outright. Nine tries and thirty eight points from two matches, after four tries in a losing side in Round 1. He has been the most dangerous player in this competition since the season started, and Round 3 was the night his team finally gave him a scoreboard to match. Follow the rest of Riverton’s season at Riverton Seagulls.

Lehi are a different team now

Here is the part of Round 3 that mattered most, and the scoreline hides it completely.

Seven tries. Thirty four points. That is exactly as many tries and exactly as many points as the Lehi Raiders had managed across their previous two matches of 2026 combined. It is their highest score of the season by fourteen points and their narrowest losing margin of the year. The comparison that tells it best is the pre-season, when these same two sides met and Riverton won it 66–20. On Saturday Lehi scored 34 and cut the margin to 40.

They also did the hardest thing in rugby league twice in one night, which is score points when the momentum is entirely against you.

The first run came early. Sixteen points down and staring at a long evening, Max W. got Lehi on the board, another try followed, and Kyler M. converted to make it 10–16 at the water break. Six points in it against the side that would go on to post seventy four.

The second run was better. Whatever was said at the break worked, because Lehi came out and put ten straight on the board in the opening minutes of the second half. A try, a Kyler M. conversion, then Jarrett H. over to close it to 24–36. For that stretch the Raiders were the better team on the park, and Riverton knew it.

Max W. finished with two tries, one of them right before the half-time whistle. Ryan H. crossed in the second half. Kyler M. capped his own night with a try in the final minute and three conversions for ten points, and Lehi had the last score of the match. Four different Raiders have their name on a try, with two more still to be credited.

The two points have not come yet. Everything that comes before the two points has. This is a group that is scoring more, sharing it around more, and refusing to go away, and it is only Round 3. See more of them at Lehi Raiders.

How the points came

Riverton finished with fourteen tries and nine goals. Harrison M. and Jarom N. scored five each, and TJ B. and James W. crossed once apiece. TJ B. kicked five conversions.

Lehi finished with seven tries and three goals. Max W. scored twice, and Jarrett H., Ryan H. and Kyler M. added one each. Kyler M. kicked all three conversions.

Two Riverton tries and four Riverton conversions are still sitting under Unknown player in the box score, along with two of Lehi’s tries. Those get their names as soon as the scorers are confirmed, and because the stats table below reads live from the league’s game day system, the correction shows up on this page the moment it is made.

The full player-by-player box score, every try, kick and point, is just below in Full match stats. The complete photo gallery and the full match video are in the Match Centre.

The ladder after Round 3

Riverton’s win moves them to second on the ladder with two competition points and a +10 differential from two starts. Bluffdale stay top on four points and a +90 differential after their wins over Riverton in Round 1 and Lehi in Round 2. Lehi sit third and are still hunting their first two points, though they are trending in the right direction faster than anyone on that table.

There is a long way to go. Every result from here reshuffles it, and you can watch it move on the standings page as the scores come in.

Come play some footy

Round 3 is done and there is a full summer of rugby league still in front of us. If watching two blokes score five tries each made your boots itch, take that as the sign.

The Lehi Raiders and the Riverton Seagulls are both actively recruiting right now, and you do not need any experience at all. Turn up ready to learn and the rest takes care of itself.

Fill out the interested player form and we will connect you with the right club. You can browse every side on the teams page, go straight to the clubs building their squads at Lehi Raiders and Riverton Seagulls, or see what is coming up on the full season schedule.

Thank you to our league sponsors

This match report is powered by Ghost Zero Systems, our league technology and media partner. The website, the media distribution, the online registration, and the live game day stats tracking that make write-ups like this one possible all run on the platform they built for the URLA. Every score you just read was tapped in live at the ground by Goose and came straight off that system.

None of the rest of it happens without the businesses that back Utah rugby league either. Our thanks this season go to Safe and Sound Pianos, our league title sponsor, along with Neighborhood Barbers, Amplifico Marketing, Catering by Bryce, Eberhard Photo, In Roam Outfitters, Kiwi Tu Meke Bites, Seki Construction, Sina HQ and Top Notch Movers. Match-day photos come courtesy of our photography partner, Eberhard Photo.

Want the full season picture? The live league table and player stats update as results come in, and every approved player has a profile with their season and career numbers. If your business wants to get behind the league, take a look at how sponsorship works.