For the UA men's rugby team, good things finally came in pairs again at Estevan Park this weekend.
Arizona held off a late UCLA rally to win 34-29 Sunday and, after Friday's 29-20 victory over Cal State Long Beach, complete its first home sweep since the Memorial Invitational Tournament last November.
After opening up a 20-0 lead ten minutes into the game, Arizona's wheels came off in the second half. Capitalizing on sloppy play by the Wildcats, UCLA roared back to take a 29-27 lead on a try by Sean McGuire.
But sophomore lock Ryan Tovani, making his second varsity start in lieu of the injured Nate Eggman, responded with the go-ahead, game-winning try with eight minutes remaining in the game.
"He had to step up and play in the game, and he did a very good job offensively and defensively," said head coach Dave Sitton.
Tovani sparked Arizona's offensive outburst with an interception and subsequent try in the first half to give the team a 13-0 lead.
Fellow sophomore John Rouff blocked a Bruin kick soon thereafter, running in another try to stretch Arizona's lead to 20.
"The backs did a very nice job today, particularly given the circumstances," said Sitton.
Brandon McClellan scored 19 points for the Bruins in the loss.
Arizona continued its season-long trend of playing poorly against sub-par competition. Coming into their respective games, neither Long Beach nor UCLA had defeated the Wildcats since the 1990s, a point not lost on Sitton.
"There's a fine line in rugby," he said. "Our guys know what to do. (But) they get under pressure and they don't do it. It's a mental edge that we don't have this year. Good people, good athletes, but we're not a particularly strong rugby team right now."
Sitton said a meeting held after Sunday's game cleared up the team's expectations for the coming weeks. Items still left on the team's agenda include its regular-season finale against Arizona State next Friday, as well as the Austin Invitational Tournament in Austin, Texas, in three weeks.
"The guys understood that it's great to get the two wins. There's no reason to not enjoy getting two wins," said Sitton. "But we don't believe that we have proved ourselves to the extent that we need to."