EVAN CARAVELLI/Arizona Daily Wildcat Justin Kunz, junior flyhalf, receives the ball during a team practice yesterday afternoon. Now going into his senior year, Kunz is lined up to play an important leadership role on the team.

Even with a win Friday at Arizona State, the Arizona men's rugby team's regular-season finale might be bittersweet.

Though senior turnover will be unusually low going into next season, the team will lose a number of key contributors. Team President Peter Wyatt is among the ruggers riding into the desert sunset this summer.

Junior flyhalf Justin Kunz said that despite the imminent graduation of team leaders, he already fosters high hopes for fall 2004.

"We're only losing two, three seniors, and there's really no one else in college rugby that that happens to," Kunz said. "I think the tight-knit group we have, the chemistry, is really going to help us. If we all work hard in the offseason, we can come out and win the league next year. There's no doubt in my mind."

Nor was there any in the mind of head coach Dave Sitton, who picked up on Kunz after his senior year at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif.

"On the day I started coaching rugby here, all the kids I literally taught to play rugby were football players," Sitton said. "Justin was part of this new age. I remember talking with him about coming to Arizona and how it was going to work, and that sort of thing. You have a very special feeling about people like him."

Coming into this season, Kunz was already known for his heady play, but it wasn't until a team trip to New Zealand last summer that Sitton knew he had a leader in his midst.

"Justin, we identified last year, was more of a fullback. Mark Gallow, who played (at flyhalf) last year for us, was going to be in Spain attending classes this fall, so we knew we had to make some choices," Sitton said. "Justin became the logical choice to move to that flyhalf position, and he was ready, willing and able to step into the situation where we placed him. It was very important to the team."

Before Arizona opened its season against Utah in October, Kunz was elected team captain in a majority vote by his peers on both the varsity and junior varsity squads ÷ a distinction Sitton calls "a pretty big deal" for a junior. Kunz has alternated between fullback and flyhalf since, creating opportunities as best he can.

"I'm unselfish," Kunz said. "I don't like to score at all. I like to help the other players score, to set up my teammates."

Kunz scored a rare penalty kick in the Wildcats' 34-29 victory over UCLA, a game highlighted by sophomores John Rouff and Ryan Tovani, who each scored tries in their first and second varsity starts, respectively.

This season, Kunz has had the opportunity to reflect the leadership shown to him in his early years with the team.

"My freshman year, we had one All-American, John Gray, who took me under his wing," he said. "We worked out together on off-days, and he really showed me the game and the program itself at Arizona.

"I figure it's my responsibility and my duty to help out rookies and the younger kids, to do for them what was done for me."

If he remains in Tucson during the offseason, Kunz plans to work with the coaching staff, indoctrinating new players and working on facets of his game.

"He's going to spend a lot of time on tape, and we're going to work on skill work," Sitton said. "There are a few peculiarities from being a good rugby player to being a fantastic rugby player. He's got the abilities to go to that next level."

In the meantime, Kunz hopes Arizona's current three-game winning streak means good things for the team in the regular season and beyond.

"We all have a lot of things we need to work on, no matter what position you play and no matter how big or small you are," he said. "We need to come back (next year) in better shape and be able to know the game and to execute rugby how it's supposed to be played. If we have that done, then we'll have a successful season."