Cal edged Saint Mary's 29-28 to advance to D-1A Rugby 15s Championship Semifinal

California Golden Bears will host BYU Cougars at 1 PM PT

Last Saturday’s D1A College Rugby Championships quarterfinal between California Golden Bears and St. Mary’s College Gaels followed a very similar script as the last two contests (last year’s D1A Semifinal and a regular season match a month ago), SMC jumped out to an early lead before Cal found a way to get back into the match. Other similarities included a close (single-digit) scoring margin and how the road team won the contest.

Cal Bears snapped a two-match losing streak to East Bay rival SMC by a slim 29-28 final score from Moraga, CA. Cal Bears are now two wins away from another Rugby 15s national championship. Because BYU Cougars were able to upset Central Washington Wildcats 62-31, Cal as the 3rd-seed in the West will host 4th-seed BYU, with a spot in the D1A Championship Final on the line.

By reaching yet another national semifinal, Cal Rugby has now extended a final four streak (not counting the two seasons canceled by COVID and 2012 when Cal did not participate in a postseason to force the formation of the Varsity Cup) all the way back to 1990 (since the Internet was not widely used then, I don’t know what happened). In that stretch, Cal has won the rugby 15s national championship 21 times, lost in the championship final 6 times (4 times to BYU), and semifinal twice (including last year to SMC).

https://twitter.com/CalVarsityRugby/status/1649450248077717504

Cal fans who missed it (or want to relive it) can watch the Cal - SMC quarterfinal match on demand for free on The Rugby Network. The online platform (one does need to make a free account) will also broadcast this Saturday’s semifinal as well as the championship final on May 6th from Houston, TX.

In the quarterfinal match, Cal saw SMC get ahead with two tries and conversions to take a 14-0 lead after 25 minutes. Just before Gaels’ first score, Golden Bears were denied the first try of the match due to a turnover right at the try line in the 12th minute. Thanks in part to the great display of speed from freshman Cade Crist (no relation to Cal chancellor Carol, as far as I know), Cal finally get on the scoreboard when Max Clark (no relation to Cal head coach Jack, as far as I know) was credited with a try.

Just before the half, Cal got a major boost when senior fullback Max Schumacher, a finalist of the Rudy Scholz Award, got a great pass from Solomon Williams to score a much-needed try right between the goalposts. Schumacher made the easy conversions to pull Cal within 12-21 at the half.

https://twitter.com/CalVarsityRugby/status/1648787171074269185

The second half turned out to be all Cal, especially after SMC's fullback De Grandpre had to be subbed out due to an injury. Freshman center Rand Santos scored Cal's first second-half try. Schumacher made the conversion to pull the Bears within 2. Sophomore Kealan O'Connell put the Bears ahead 10 minutes later, taking advantage of how Joe Kirsten was able to take a big hit while still able to accurately pass him the ball.

In the 74th minute, Cal opted to let Schumacher take a penalty to push the lead to 8, which would require 2-scores by the Gaels. SMC would not go away quietly and managed to get the try with a tough conversion. SMC got the ball back with a chance to win, but Cal Bears would stand tall, earning the right to host BYU this Saturday.

https://twitter.com/CalVarsityRugby/status/1647409967148969986

On the other half of the bracket, the still undefeated Navy beats Army. After the weather delayed the match by a day, Lindenwood was able to beat Life. The top two seeds in the East will face off in Annapolis, MD this Saturday. 

Technically, Cal vs. BYU is a rematch of the regular season finale. However, that was a contest that was played after the D1A postseason had been revealed. Cal head coach Jack Clark sent a reserve squad to Provo, Utah to play a BYU team that had a chip on their shoulder. BYU has dominated their opponents since, winning 50-14 over Cal, 71-33 over Arizona in their first-round match, and 62-31 over CWU. BYU does have two losses on the season, a 23-18 loss at SMC on March 4th and a 24-14 loss at Life.

Lastly, Cal Rugby has confirmed to us that they will not partake in any rugby 7s this spring. USA Rugby has added a premier 7s championship to the festivities in Houston, TX that includes the D1A Championship Final as the main event. Cal Rugby said, "The team does not believe it can prepare to effectively contest both forms of rugby at the same time. Unfortunately, this means the team will not participate in another 7’s tournament this academic year." It will be very interesting to see just which teams will play in that contest.

It is probably wise to say that this BYU match is another coin flip. Cal is likely the slight favorite given the home-field advantage. Assuming that the fine plays of the underclassmen (Christ, Santos, O'Connell) lately is no fluke, Golden Bears are peaking at the right time after injuries changed the lineup a bit. I expect another close, back-and-forth contest. Senior Max Schumacher's understanding of the wind at Witter Field may ultimately be the difference in if Cal can get back to the D1A Rugby Championship final after a one-year absence.

ROLL ON YOU BEARS!