Danville gained another win from Alameda, making it the fourth strong performance of the season, but there's more to do.

Danville took 68 points from Clayton Valley, 24 points from Bishop O’Dowd, 10 points from Pleasanton, and 61 points from Alameda.

Danville coach Bob Stephen hadn’t been entirely satisfied with the team’s performance against Pleasanton. The goal is to beat Fallbrook and challenge for a national title, and he believes if they played the way they did against Pleasanton, Fallbrook would win. Danville’s most recent 73-12 win against Alameda didn’t give Stephen much of a chance to evaluate the improvements in Danville’s performance.

Alameda could only field 11 players and offered to forfeit, yet still wanted to gain experience on the pitch. Danville loaned eight of its players to Alameda so each team was still able to compete for the match.

“Our number one desire is to get our girls to college. That’s the whole reason we’re doing this,” Stephen said. “At the end of the match, both sides are smiling because they were able to play a full game. They were happy even though they got beat, and that’s what rugby is all about.”

Danville is already looking toward their next competitive bout against the Spartans. Stephen views the other nationally ranked team as tough competition. The Spartans have already beaten Danville, and that makes them the toughest competition so far.

“Defensively, we definitely need to work on defending kicks,” Stephen said. “Our girls tackle really well but occasionally tackle higher than I’d like.”

Danville will continue to rely on its All American players and the experience of team overall to lead the rest of the less experienced members to understand that playing as a team is crucial. Danville is home to numerous individual athletes that have a hard time sacrificing a few meters so they can set their teammates up for better lane runs.

“I’m not so sure we’re as ready this year as we were last year,” Stephen said. “We have to defend our title and we’re still trying to gel as a team.”

Stephen believes the solidarity that the team had last year and the trust the players had in each other is missing. However, Danville’s potential to achieve their goals rises immensely if the individual athletes can play for each other.

“They are very talented,” Stephen said. “We have a couple players who have walked on for the first time, and I’m looking at them going, ‘You were born with a rugby ball in your hand.’”

Danville’s schedule is switching from the original that's posted on NorCal’s website. However, the current schedule has Danville slated to see the Spartans on March 19.