Utah Valley Shows Its Intentions With Strong Spring Schedule
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The Utah Valley Men’s Rugby team has shown their intentions for the upcoming spring semester of collegiate rugby by announcing a very strong schedule that currently features no less than 5 match ups with College Premier League teams.
The schedule is about 80% completed so far, with the scheduling of the Utah Rugby Union Division II playoffs still to be announced, but Utah Valley’s schedule so far would rival many Division I programs for intensity, let alone those in Division II. The team begins their season in just under two weeks when they compete in the RedRock Tournament, which is moving to Mesquite, Nevada this year after spending several years in St. George, Utah.
The Utah Valley team will then face an incredibly tough schedule at the Las Vegas Invitational with organizers putting the plucky Division II team up against College Premier teams Air Force, Arizona and Delaware and Division I team Northern Colorado. The four games in three days will no doubt be tough, but Utah Valley’s Head Coach Josh Cooper is looking forward to the challenge. “Obviously it’s going to be a huge ask for the boys to play such accomplished programs in consecutive days, but we need to play these teams if we want to improve and challenge for a Division II title.”
“We wanted the four games so that we could get some game time for our B team as well, a schedule like this means it’s going to be a sharp learning curve for some of the squad. Player rotation is going to have to come into it at some point to help my young guys out and to also not let the score line get out of hand.”
After the tough weekend in the desert, it doesn’t get any easier for the Utah Valley team with more College Premier League teams on the books. The 19th of February will see Utah Valley playing host to in state rivals Utah, while the next weekend sees the team head across town to take on BYU. If that wasn’t enough, the wolverines will then make the trip to Salt Lake City a fortnight later and play Utah again.
After these quality warm up games comes the business end of the season for Utah Valley with the Utah Rugby Union Division II playoffs and then, all things going well, the Pacific Coast and National Playoffs. Squeezed in between playoff rounds will be a visit from Western State College of Colorado on the 9th of April. The two sides have never met before. The season goal still remains the Division II National Championship on the 1st of May, and the Utah Valley side hopes that this challenging schedule will help make the difference in the team getting there and coming home victorious.
“We have one goal that we’re working toward and we’re going with the mantra that you have to play the best to be the best. We’ll see how it works out come May 1st.”
