Saint Mary's put an early stamp on its 2017-18 college season with a dominant win over BYU last week, but more challenges are coming the Gaels' way.

On Saturday, Saint Mary's will have its hands full against the Glendale Merlins, which are bringing their D1 men's team and U23 squad to Moraga, California, for a pair of matchups. 

Watch Glendale Merlins at Saint Mary's LIVE on FloRugby

The Glendale U23s defeated BYU 49-19 on February 9 behind a player-of-the-game effort from Jack Miller and a strong effort from Pat Conway. A week later, it the Gaels who took down the Cougars 37-17 for BYU's largest margin of defeat against college competition in nearly 10 years.

"I was really impressed to see the sense of calm and professionalism that the Saint Mary's kids bring to their rugby," SMC head coach Tim O'Brien said. "We scored six tries and beat BYU by 20. We scored from some nice movements and a nice display of skills."

REPLAY: BYU at Saint Mary's

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O'Brien said the tone among his team was set by players who are no longer there. The likes of Kevin O'Connor, Holden Yungert, and Dylan Audsley were the ones who helped get these young players ready to play.

"We had our most senior-laden team last year, and we have a bunch of guys now who weren't starters," O'Brien said. "But we have these guys coming in to starting roles and bringing some athleticism."

The Gaels road doesn't get any easier after this weekend, with matchups against UC Davis, BYU, Cal Poly, and a trip to Italy next month before facing Cal on April 7.

However, Saint Mary's seems to be finding ways to win, and everyone can see that result against BYU and worry.

Glendale Men's Club Academy at Saint Mary's is streaming LIVE on FloRugby this Saturday. Kickoff is at 2:45 PT.