The PAC Rugby Conference 7s is set for Witter Rugby Field at the University of California in a little over a week, with eight teams set to compete.

Hosts Cal will be in Pool A with Utah, USC, and Oregon, while Arizona will be the top seed in Pool B with UCLA, Stanford, and Oregon State.

Players over two days, November 6 and 7, the tournament will be shown on Pac-12 Networks. Teams will play three pool games on the Saturday and play two brackets of semifinals, with the top two from each pool playing in the Cup semis (the losing teams playing for 3rd). The 3rd and 4th teams from each pool will play semifinals, with the winners playing for the Plate, and the losing teams playing for the Shield.

Every team, as a result, gets five total games.

Cal won the West Coast 7s in Sal Luis Obispo, and, in fact, fielded two teams in that tournament and they both went undefeated.

Both Cal Teams Unbeaten at West Coast 7s

Utah will be an interesting challenge. Several of the Utes players suited up in the NAI 7s over the summer, and Head Coach Adam Griffee has been hard at work getting them ready for this test.

Utah is coming into the PAC 7s with three seniors: Brad Jackson, Ezekiel Garcia, and Nate Asper, and junior Jason Frantz, as the only players who have been in this tournament before.

"Their knowledge of the Utah 7s system will be extremely valuable as most of our players are young," said Griffee. Young, but talented, including former Italian U18 player David Lukic, and also Jake Kinneeveauk, Fernando Treceño, Drew McDaniels, and Gennaro Fiorillo.

"With essentially the last 2 seasons being cut our summer involvement in NAI was crucial," said Griffee. Utah had also planned to go to the second West Coast 7s at Treasure Island in San Francisco, but that was canceled. Other teams had attended the San Luis Obispo event, so they are a tournament behind. As a result, "NAI became even more important."

Arizona will renew a rivalry with UCLA. The Bruins beat the Wildcats in a dramatic 3rd-4th game at the West Coast 7s. UCLA ran out to a 19-0 lead, saw Arizona come back to tie it 19-19, and then the Bruins scored as time expired to win it.

"Due to the pandemic we have two class years of guys with no college sevens experience, so [the West Coast 7s] weekend was hugely helpful in their development," said Arizona Head Coach Sean Duffy. "[I was] particularly pleased with guys stepping up, playing to the system, backing themselves, and trusting their teammates. Jon Rogers was exceptional in his leadership, taking the big picture view and knowing how this will help us next month at PAC-12 Championships. I'm also pleased with how the team carried themselves. No dramas, always respectful, shaking hands with opponents, taking coaching."

UCLA Head Coach Adam Ashe knows it won't be easy this time around.

"We're hoping for a strong finish," said Ashe. "This will be a great test for us to see where we are. We are in a good sport in terms of the squad and the guys coming in from USA 7s and U23s experience."

Putting all those puzzle pieces together will be key.