It was a useful weekend of games for several top high school at the Storer Classic on the UCLA campus.

For the Danville Oaks, it was an impressive weekend, with a 47-8 defeat of United of Utah, and a 27-7 defeat of the Irvine Rhinos. Program Director Jon Straka said his team made too many mistakes - especially penalties and turnovers, but the team defense was good enough to repair the damage. All-in-all, though, it was early-season rugby, and Danville acquitted itself fairly well. Flyhalf Christian Toetuu was superb, directing the attack and setting up his teammates for scores.

For United and Snow Canyon - two top Utah programs coached by brothers Colin (for United) and Michael (for Snow Canyon) Puriri, just getting outside was a nice change.

"We got a lot out of it," said Colin Puriri. "We had a lot of fun and it was nice just to be out in the sunshine." 

United beat Lamorinda and lost to Danville

Snow Canyon manager Jay Day said much the same. "We've only been together for two weeks now and it's hard to get the chemistry going. We tried to get as many kids in as possible and see how they do under pressure, and we had a couple of veteran forwards who are starting to show some leadership."

Snow Canyon showed some good speed - perhaps more than they expected, while flanker Britton Webster had an impressive day. Snow Canyon lost a close one to Mother Lode and beat SFGG in another close game.

Lamorinda showed improvement over last year, and came back to win a tough decision over the Rhinos 22-10 on Sunday. Mother Lode, also, looked stronger than in 2016, beating Santa Monica and SFGG. For all this was valuable, and Straka said that taking two teams down to LA was, for Danville, even more useful.

"We've been going for five years and this was the best experience we've had," said Straka. "We got a lot of players time and found out that we have good depth."

See scores here.