Rugby team builds off trip down under

Arizona Daily Wildcat Rugby player Paul Gouse gets roughed up during a game last season.

Over the course of their July 24 to Aug. 10 trip, which was paid for primarily through donations from sponsors and alumni, the team got the opportunity to play against top-level club teams throughout the country.

Highlighting the trip, however, was being in attendance for what head coach Dave Sitton called, "the holy game of rugby" - the New Zealand All Blacks versus the South Africa Springboks rumble in Eden Park -æwhich Sitton likened to watching the Super Bowl or NBA Finals in America.

"In the rugby world, it is beyond going to a Chicago Bulls or San Francisco 49ers game here in America," Sitton said.

Sitton said Arizona should not have even been able to get the tickets because it is such a big deal in New Zealand, but through their New Zealand friends they were fortunate to get enough for all of the players and coaches.

Eighteen years ago marked the first time a New Zealand rugby team played in Tucson, and the matches have continued ever since.

Sitton lead the team on its extensive trip.

"It's their game in their country. No American sport can compare to rugby when you consider the attitude that is needed to play the game," he said.

The coaching staff and players were given a place to stay at each stop by the families of their opponents in New Zealand. The generosity of the families was amazing according to the players. Rugby club vice president Jason Arcaro said, "It was great because you don't get that kind of experience in any hotel."

Sitton added, "Everyone was given a key to the house and shown where the fridge was."

This season marks Sitton's 21st year as a coach of Arizona's rugby program.

He hopes this year will be more successful than years past.

"We no longer want to rebuild, but reload," Sitton said.

Last season the Wildcats finished the season with a No. 8 national ranking in addition to winning the highly competitive Southern California Conference with a 7-0 record.

Arizona is currently on a 12-game winning streak.

This year's junior-driven team wants to improve upon its performance last season.

The 1996-97 team struggled early in the season against top-notch opponents, such as Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, UCLA, San Diego State, and Long Beach State but finished strong.

Much of the success of last season can be credited to the work of assistant coach Matt Dallow.

Dallow was instrumental in developing the Wildcats' fitness regime. This enabled the players to use their stamina and strength to close out their opponents in the second half of many games.

"You need the grace, skill, and finesse of basketball combined with the rugged, physical, hard-hitting, aggressive nature of football," Sitton said.

This year's team is returning 13 players from the New Zealand trip. Most of these players are starters.

In addition to the trip abroad, the team competed in and won the Las Vegas Midnight Sevens at the end of July, one of the most popular seven-a-side rugby events in the country.

"Rugby has to be played at a boiling point," Sitton said. "And that is what we plan on doing this year."

Damian Areyan contributed to this report