This is a big weekend in that for a lot of teams it's the final weekend of scrimmages, trainings, and tuneups before their seasons begin March 4.

We expect we might see a number of cancelations this weekend as the weather is pretty awful in some spots. But awful is also in the ey of the beholder, and say what you want about artificial turf, you can still play on it when it rains.

But we also have the start of play in Utah with the annual Ra Puriri Memorial Tournament—formerly the Ra Puriri Invitational but Ra Puriri, the father of United Coach Colin and longtime Te Mana/Snow Canyon Coach Colin, passed away this past October.

He is honored with Utah's kickoff rugby tournament once again; almost every team in action is ranked. We will see longtime rivals Herriman and United play each other, but not Herriman vs Highland (pictured above) which was a surprise win for Highland last season in the state final.

St. Thomas Aquinas opens up their schedule against Tulsa. Vienna is coming off a big win over Loudoun County last week in which their solid senior class showed well.

The core group of Vienna players who have been playing together since Elementary School, and they were bolstered by Luke Jarvis, who played for Danville before his family moved to Virginia. Lock Jack West, Hooker David Kendig, and halfback combo Diego Gonzalez and captain Camden Erickson lead a talented group. They take on a Raleigh Redhawks side that is playing their first game of the season.

Another couple of teams getting their first games in are #1-ranked Gonzaga and 2021 Rugby PA champs Gregory the Great. Last year's Rugby PA champs, Berks, open up with a non-conference game against Hempfield at the Frostbite Tournament.

In Florida, Okapi looks very hard to beet, but can a Cardinal Gibbons that always gets better by the week take them down?

And ...

Oh just the small matter of the SCIRF final Friday night with the potent attack fo Cathedral Catholic meeting up with the tough defense of Fallbrook.