There's just the one game this weekend in the SCIRF HS league.

These are teams that adhere to California Interscholastic Federation regs, and are working to get CIF certification for rugby in high school.

Defending league champs St. John Bosco takes on Mira Costa. And while Mira Costa has been the top team not that long ago, for the Mustangs, this is a bit of a rebuilding season.

Led by captains Christian Hunter, Sean Cascadden, and Drew Brumley, Mira Costa has a ton of potential but is still smarting from an 88-0 loss to Cathedral Catholic. You can bet Head Coach Duke Dulgarian has addressed some of their defensive deficiencies since then.

But Bosco is big, athletic, and seasoned.

Bosco starts its SCIRF season after a superb run in the CIF football season, winning the hotly-contested state Open Division over De La Salle and securing a unanimous national #1 ranking. Several of the players on that team, including captain Matthew Jordan, Maximus Gibbs, and Edward Riley were huge contributors to the football championship effort. Riley got an all-state nod. Gabriel Burch, Josiah Topui, Derek Robertson, and Manu Taula were also part of the team and contributed. Taula is the rugby co-captain along with Jordan.

The Bosco rugby-football crossovers are heavy in the defensive and offensive line. What that means is that Bosco is big—very big—and physical, but can also move around the field. They will be explosive around the interior channels, and can put a strangelhold on teams.

Saturday afternoon we'll see how they go.