Warriors Take on Life West College at RSL Academy Indoor in Pre-season Scrimmage

Herriman, Utah – The Utah Warriors took the pitch at RSL Academy indoor facility for a pre-season scrimmage against Life West College on Saturday, January 12th in front of a crowd of 1,000+ fans.

In what proved to be a sneak peek of the new-look Warriors team before the team’s media day this Tuesday, January 15th, second-year Head Coach, Alf Daniels said he was impressed by the standing room only crowd and rugby put on display by both teams, “Tonight was a great night. We’re grateful to all of our fans who came out and grateful to Life West for coming to Utah for this scrimmage. Both teams played hard and generally, I thought we looked solid, played our structures well and controlled the game for the most part.”

Since the team reported on December 3rd, they have been hard at work bringing things together for their 2019 Championship run. Coach Daniels continued on the team’s development, “We have been working very hard on our set-piece and I thought we dominated that area of the game. Our fitness looked better. The scrimmage also exposed a few areas for us to work on which we will address this week through training.

The team is also feeling optimistic after the match up. Veteran Lance Williams, “It was a great feeling running again with the boys, it was a great TEAM win.” Lance also added the need for improvement and pushing forward as a team, “…we still have a lot of work we need to fix, including myself as well. We have to fix our little mistakes and improve on them into our next week.” Lance continued on the upcoming 2019 Season, “…this group of boys is willing to work hard for each other and believe we have a great and passionate coaching staff to guide us throughout the season.”

During the match, the Warriors lost Maika Hafoka to an injury late in the second half. Coach Daniels on the injury to Maika, “It was extremely devastating to have a season-ending injury in our first hit out. Maika Hafoka is an athlete who was showing real promise this season. He was a stand out forward in the 2nd half of the game and we are going to miss him. We wish him and his family a speedy recovery.”

Following this weekend’s scrimmage, the Utah Warriors will be announcing their full 2019 squad at the team’s media day on January 15th at 1.30pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in South Jordan, UT. Season ticket holders and Warriors Nation are invited to join Coach Daniels, his staff and players as they meet the media.

The Warriors 2019 MLR regular season starts on the road February 1st against MLR opponent Austin Elite. The Utah Warriors Home Opener is on February 23rd against Glendale Raptors. Season Tickets are on sale by calling the Warriors Ticket Office at 801-935-4045 or visit www.warriorsrugby.com.