TUCSON, AZ — The UCLA Bruins look to finish the 2017 fall 7's season on a high this weekend when they travel to Tucson, Arizona to contend for the annual PAC 7's Rugby Championship. Seven PAC Conference programs will descend on the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson this Saturday and Sunday for the Championship, a tournament that saw the Bruins earn silver for their efforts back in 2013.

The Bruins have been placed in Pool B, pitting them against Arizona, Stanford, and cross-town rival, USC in Saturday's pool mtches. The results of these three pool matches will ultimately determine UCLA's seeding in Sunday's championship playoff bracket.

Saturday's action kicks off with a match against the old rival, USC (11:40 AM) in a replay of the Treasure Island 7's Plate final. The Bruins ran away with victory in that match thanks to tries from Yanick Mendes, Eric Naposki-Abdullah, and Jordan Robertson (2). The boys in blue have not lost to USC in 7's and have a perfect opportunity to continue that streak of dominance in their first match of the Championship.

Following the match against USC, the Bruins will clash with Northern Californian side, Stanford (1:00 PM). The two teams last met at the San Luis Obispo 7's back in early October where the Bruins, flexing their muscle, ran in five tries in a 41-0 trouncing of the Cardinal.

Saturday's final match will arguably be the day's most difficult as they take on tournament hosts, Arizona (2:20 PM). The Wildcats have been on a run of impressive performances this fall season, most recently having come runners-up at the Treasure Island 7's. The Bruins were outplayed by Arizona in pool play at Treasure Island, but are ready to enact revenge come Saturday afternoon.

UCLA head coach, Scott Stewart, has named 17 players for this weekend's travel squad, a group very closely resembling the line-ups chosen for both the San Luis Obispo and Treasure Island tournaments.

With a large mix of youth and veteran talent, the Bruins will benefit greatly from the experience of its core of seniors, a group led by All-American Cian Barry featuring try-machine Jordan Robertson, incredibly quick James Francis, and to versatile stalwarts in Kent Presson and Yoh Nakayama.

Junior standouts Christian Bernard, Ryan Bradfield, Haydn Reardon, and Yanick Mendes make yet another appearance in UCLA's roster after all putting in worthy performances at Treasure Island. Bernard, Bradfield, and Mendes have been vital for UCLA over the past three years, while Reardon's addition to the team has improved the Bruins' performances all season.

Moving into the younger ranks of the team selection, sophomores Patrick French, Conner Bercik, and Noah Hoffman have successfully traversed the sometimes difficult transition from rookie to sophomore season, putting themselves in good position for plenty of action this weekend. West Coast 7's Dream Team selectee, Eric Naposki-Abdullah, is just one of the Bruins' five freshmen that make the trip to southern Arizona, all five having earned themselves spots on the travel team thanks to their attacking acuity and try-scoring. Jack Mckeon, Connor Weigold, Jake Arnold, and Patrick Regan round out the Bruins travel squad and have the opportunity to play some valuable minutes this weekend on their first championship tournament trip as Bruins.

If the Bruins are to make a push towards Sunday's championship match, then they will have to string together complete performances on both Saturday and Sunday. One of UCLA's problems this season has been their inability to maintain continuity through mid-day matches following strong morning time victories. Despite this, the boys in blue have benefited from nearly three weeks of preparation for the PAC Championship and are mentally and physically prepped for the challenges of the weekend ahead.

Follow along with all of Saturday's UCLA action on our Twitter (twitter.com/UCLA_Rugby) and Facebook (facebook.com/UCLARugby) pages. We will be bringing coverage of Sunday's action to Twitter and Facebook, but all of Sunday's matches will also be live on television on the PAC-12 Network (check your local listings)! Make sure to stay updated with the Bruins throughout the weekend and use the hashtag "#BruinsPAC" to interact online!

Go Bruins!
 

UCLA's Saturday Match Schedule

Opponent	Match Time
USC	11:40 AM
Stanford	1:00 PM
Arizone	2:20 PM