DU Rugby received a harsh lesson on Saturday in the sport of rugby that will prove valuable in the long run. The Pioneers faced off against the Glendale Academy side that trains each day of the week and has some strong, athletic players in their side. The Pioneers did not match the intensity or the skill level of the Glendale U-20's and were on the end of a lopsided loss.

"We wanted to show our guys today, coaches and players included, what playoff rugby will look like come March," shared Head Coach Stu Halsall, "We wanted them to see the pace of the game, the athleticism, and the skill level that has to be achieved."

DU Rugby struggled all afternoon as they could not get their defence right and lost the battle of the breakdown.

"We'll have to go back to basics this next week as we have to understand that some of our basic skills have to be in place before we can progress," shared head coach Stu Halsall, "We lacked in basic tackling, breakdown and passing today and we'll need to refocus our efforts on these next week."

The bright spots for DU Rugby were the play of some of the freshmen with Daniel Hauser particularly standing out. Getting players into the match against a high caliber side was a real positive.

DU Rugby will face University of Colorado next week in its final pre-season tilt and will be working hard to address many of the issues that were exposed in this game.

"Our team now has a sense of what it is going to take to compete at a playoff level and I hope that it inspires our team to commit and work hard both on and off the field." said Stu Halsall.