The annual Arizona v. Arizona State season-opening rivalry match turned out to be all Arizona State as the Sun Devils bedeviled the Wildcats 32-17 Saturday.

Arizona got on the board first, but Arizona State kept to their game plan and, for the most part, shut the Arizona attack down. Scorers for Arizona State included Adam Sandstrom, Seione Letoi, (two tries each)  and Ryan Spiwak, the difference being made up by Letoi kicking penalties and conversions.

“I am proud of the boys work this semester, but we have to keep building to be able to achieve the benchmarks set out by the team,” said ASUHead Coach Gary Lane. “It’s a nice win but we have to be cognizant that it’s very early days yet and we see U of A again in March in a PAC conference game.”

The Devils now will be off until January 20^th, 2013 and it doesn’t get any easier they will be playing the 2010 DI National Champions Claremont Colleges, and then the first ever Pac  Conference game VS Cal in Strawberry Canyon.

The University of Arizona and Arizona State University have both moved into the new “PAC” Conference.  The league features schools that are members of the Pacific-12 Conference.  The inaugural competition set to begin in February features Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon State, UCLA and Utah.  Three other PAC-12 schools are expected to join the circuit for the 2014 season.  It is anticipated that all 12 schools will be in the PAC Rugby Conference within three years. 

“This is a great time for our program and our players,” said Arizona Head Coach Dave Sitton.  “We played long before there was a dedicated collegiate competition.  Now we are aligned with schools that are members of the Pacific 12 Conference.  This will be regarded as one of the, if not the most prestigious conference in college rugby.”

Arizona and Arizona State will both open their PAC schedule against Cal.