The Arizona club rugby team charged into San Diego this weekend with high hopes and aspirations of a possible playoff berth and momentum from a sweep of the Los Angeles schools.
When the world stopped spinning Sunday afternoon, the team’s bubble had burst from the inside out.
“”Rugby is the ultimate team game,”” Arizona rugby head coach Dave Sitton said. “”And you can’t win games when the whole team doesn’t show up.””
Arizona (6-6, 2-5 SoCal Conference) clashed with San Diego (1-3 SoCal) yesterday, and although the Ruggers were able to score within the first 17 seconds, they simply could not control the pace of the game. Only a few seconds later, the Torreros were in the end zone celebrating their own try.
“”In (yesterday)’s game we made way too many mental errors and poor decisions-we’ll play well for a few minutes and then just give it back to the other team,”” Sitton said.
The loss to USD, 48-41, the first in over a decade, is another discouraging sign of the times for Arizona rugby.
In a dismal performance Friday, the Ruggers suffered their worst loss ever, 43-5, dealt at the hands of San Diego State (4-2 SoCal). Needless to say, the Ruggers struggled on both sides of the ball, unable to stop the flood of Aztec scoring while putting up only one try on offense for themselves.
And although there was a chance for a play-in National Collegiate Championships berth coming into the weekend, the team’s playoff hopes have now been completely eradicated. Key injuries have been a consistent, nagging problem for the Wildcats all season, but “”that’s not an excuse for our performance,”” Sitton said.
After this tough weekend road trip, the bruised Wildcats will have the entire week of spring break to rest and recuperate in order to prepare for the final match of the year against ASU. Also, Sitton is looking ahead to the team trip to New Zealand and Australia this summer as an opportunity to teach and prepare the players for next season.
“”Top to bottom, we’re just not very good right now – we’re not consistent,”” Sitton said. “”We’ve blown games and not shown up a lot of time this year.””
