Grand Canyon University got on the field this past weekend with a hugely successful trip to San Diego.

The new varsity rugby program out of Arizona has struggled to find fixtures as GCU is not in a conference right now (and might not have one next year, either). So after beating Dixie State and losing to Arizona State and Arizona in the fall, the Lopes got their 2015 spring season going. In their opening game on Friday, they lost to San Diego State 36-17.

Clearly the long bus trip that same day to Southern California took a toll on the young team, as they were a bit sluggish out of the gate, and the Aztecs ran in three early tries to lead 19-0 after about 15 minutes.

But after that, GCU bounced back, and in fact the two teams were even, scoring 17 points each for a 36-17 San Diego State win.

“We got a little closer but I think we ran out of steam at the end,” said GCU Head Coach Ryan Kelly. “It was a long travel day and really our first long travel day like that. I was pleased with the effort.”

The players had some time to rest up before facing University of San Diego Sunday. In that game, GCU ran out to a 38-13 lead before USD worked their way back to within seven. The Lopes held on 38-31.

“On the whole we were pretty happy,” said Kelly. “We really had only one veteran player, and we lost him due to injury. We had almost all rookies and freshmen.”

That experienced player was flyhalf Adrian Taefu, who was injured against Arizona State. So for this weekend Kelly installed Josh Ransom as fyhalf, and he performed admirably. Also solid for GCU was their scrum, which, despite being younger than the opposing packs, is big and strong and provided a good platform for the Lopes’ attack.

With a large number of players who have performed well at the high school level, GCU has talent and is starting to play together. The problem, for them, as when they get to actually play.

“It’s been tough finding games,” said Kelly. “I really appreciate the teams that have committed to play us because they are essentially taking us at our word that it won’t be a fiasco. Hopefully, the more games we play the more comfortable other programs will be in playing us.”

After going 6-3 in two 7s tournaments in the fall, and then the three 15s games, GCU is now 2-3. But between now and March 8 they have only one game scheduled - February 7 against UNLV. 

March 8 they host Notre Dame - the Fighting Irish travels every year to Arizona to play the University of Arizona in the annual Parseghian Cup. After that, GCU plays at Cal Poly April 4 and at Cal State Long Beach April 25.

Between their UNLV game and CSULB, GCU has eight open weekends - teams looking for good competition in good weather now know.