UNM could not have picked a tougher opponent for its first match of the season.
Coach Shannon Robinson said Air Force is the best team UNM plays all season, and in turn, UNM is the best competition for the Falcons in the region.
"It's a big rivalry because we are the best team they get to play," he said. "They love to come down here and play us, because in the Southwest, we play them better than any other team."
Air Force has been to the Final Four more times than any team besides University of California-Berkeley.
In 2003, Air Force's men's and women's rugby teams won the national collegiate championships. Last year, the men took third place behind Berkeley and California Polytechnic State-San Luis Obispo.
Last year Air Force came to Albuquerque for the first UNM rugby game ever televised nationally on College Sports Television. The Falcons won 35-15.
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Kelcey Tietjen, junior flanker for UNM, said Air Force is ranked second in the nation. He said he attributes the high ranking to the team's military conditioning and discipline.
The Lobos beat the top-10 Utah team in the fall and have scrimmaged the Albuquerque Aardvarks club team twice this spring.
Saturday's matchup is the first game of the season for UNM.
Rugby has been a UNM club sport since 1971, and Robinson has coached for 12 years. The men's team existed for 26 years before the women's team was added to the program.
Robinson said the rugby teams are funded with help from ASUNM and other UNM funds. The team raises money privately to travel.
Recruiting for the teams is mostly through word-of-mouth, with players coming from a variety of backgrounds, Robinson said, including New Mexico high schools, the football team, the military and other athletic backgrounds.
"It's a real mix, like the UNM student body," Robinson said. "We all got here in different ways."
Robinson said the team has several strengths. He said the strong forwards for the men's team play a big part in its success.
"Our forwards are extraordinary for the men, and those are big guys," Robinson said. "It's like having a really good offensive and defensive line in football."
Robinson said he has high hopes for team captain Fraser Leavasa.
"Fraser is our captain, and he is probably one of the best rugby players in the country as a college student," Robinson said. "We think he will be All-American this year, and he still has a year to go."
Leavasa said the team is young, and there are things it needs to work on, starting with the Air Force game.
"We need to play good and keep it simple," Leavasa said. "We don't have the speed out wide yet, but we need to keep the game close."
All-American senior Parisa Asgharzadeh, who leads the women's team, said she is confident the rugby program will have a successful year and play well against the Falcons.
"I have a lot of hope," Asgharzadeh said. "We have a lot of amazing athletes on the team right now, and I think we have a really good chance to beat them. It's just about team unity."
