BOULDER (10/6/10) – The Colorado Buffaloes rugby team is preparing to butt heads with Front Range rival Air Force this Friday at 7 p.m. at Kittredge Field on the CU-Boulder campus.In what is always a hotly contested battle, both teams will be looking to prove their mettle as they prepare for the new USA Rugby College Premiere League in the spring.
“The new College Premiere League pits us against the 30 best teams in the country,” said CU assistant coach Jim Snyder. “We need to advance out of our region first however, and Air Force will be a major roadblock in our goal of reaching the playoffs come springtime. It’s going to be a heck of a ball game.”
Air Force will be reeling from a tough 19-15 loss last week to fellow service academy foe Navy, who made the trip to Colorado from Annapolis, and went back east with a hard fought win over the cadets . Conversely, while Air Force will be a bit banged up, the Buffs are coming off a bye week and will be looking to fire on all cylinders.
“We’ve had several good weeks of training, and the guys are primed to come out strong in front of our home crowd, which is exactly what we need to do against a strong team like Air Force,” Snyder said.
Colorado will be looking to use the pace of speedsters Luke Lahman and Chris Martin to counter the traditional size and strength of the Air Force Zoomies.
“We play an exciting brand of rugby and we really want to give the CU fans in Boulder a good showing of what we can do,” said junior Reggie Bryant. “We have to play a full 80 minutes though, because Air Force will not quit on you.”
The team will be serving concessions and selling merchandise to help raise funds for their upcoming Premiere League schedule. The Buffs are hoping to top last year’s record crowd of 1,000 fans in attendance.
For more information visit www.curugby.com or visit the Buffs Rugby Facebook page.
