December 7- Arizona Rugby announced their 2019 schedule today, with a slate of XX challenging matches set up for their three teams kicking off in January.

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The first portion of the season will feature a number of tough matches, including the season opener at San Diego State January 26th and a home date with #18 Grand Canyon University February 9th. February 23rd will be a very special weekend for the program with the 50th Anniversary celebration scheduled for the weekend and the Wildcats hosting UCLA. Arizona will also induct the late Dave Sitton in to the Arizona Rugby Hall of Fame that evening with an entire weekend of festivities planned to celebrate.

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Following Spring Break, the 11th ranked Wildcats will take on challenging sides in preparation for what they hope is a deep playoff run, meeting #6 BYU in Las Vegas before a trip to Berkeley to take on #2 Cal.

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"It's important to us to schedule matches that will challenge each of our three sides" said Head Coach Sean Duffy, "we place a real value on all three of our teams, with the growth opportunities available each week and their development as players ultimately leading to our development as a team."

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Within that three-side model is the most challenging schedule to date for Arizona Second XV, as they have San Diego, Colorado, Claremont Colleges, Wyoming, and Texas amongst their slate of opponents. Last year the group had a strong season, leading to a beef up in schedule for the reserve grade side. Arizona Third XV will also take on a number of school's first sides, including Texas El-Paso, Northern Arizona, and New Mexico.

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Back on the first side, Arizona will hope to build on a strong 2018 where they went 7-2, dropping only one match on US soil to national runner up Cal. The 2nd place finish in the conference marked their best finish in five seasons before falling to Penn State in the first round of D1A playoffs. In Sevens, the Wildcats will look to build on last year's run to the Cup Semifinal, with 2019 Collegiate Rugby Championship invitations being published shortly.

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Click here for more on the Wildcats schedule.

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