I think our last 15's Natty was 6 years ago. Navy is well coached, doesn't make many unforced errors and is very crisp with their passes. This will be a tough test for us; both are excellent teams.
I might have got myself a bit too excited when I wrote this article. Then again, unlike a school like Life or Lindenwood, service academies like Navy or Army won't have any semi-pro "ringers" to worry about. I do think there is a lot of parity among the top teams and it will be essentially a coin-flip, but the slight edge to Cal for the experiences in the coaching staff.
I think you are right and I agree there is a lot more parity at the top these days. While it may mean a tougher road to the Natty, its good for the sport and we can thank Jack Clark who had been such an ambassador the last 40 years, doing coaching clinics and rugby clinics to advance the sport. In any event, the final should be a great game!! Go Bears!
I like this idea. Btw, I played on our very first National Championship side in 1980. We still drank beers and sang songs after the games with our opponents, and we weren't allowed to lift guys in the line outs. I'll give you a couple of memories of that Championship weekend. The semis were played on a Saturday and the Final was on Sunday. We played at the Palmer College pitch on Credit Island in the middle of the Mississippi River outside of Davenport Iowa. The pitch was under 6 inches of water from recent rains so they went to a dandelion field and lined out to regulation pitches, mowed where the chalk line went and dug holes and place 4x4 in them for goal posts. We played Navy the first day and beat them. Physically they were the toughest college team we played that season and were much better than the Air Force team we beat on Sunday for the Natty. After the game on Saturday Coach Ned Anderson suggested that we abstain from drinking and partying for the night.
As we boarded the bus the next morning on our way to the field to play the Natty, we were missing our All American #8, Mark Deaton (who was really close buddies with our teammate and Eagle, Timmy O'Brien, now the coach at SMC). We got to the field and at the same time a car drove up and two beautiful gals got out followed by Mark. Apparently he did not get much sleep that night! But it didn't matter, he played great and scored one of our tries on a dish from yours truly. And while we waited for the consolation match to conclude between Navy and Illinois, we couldn't help but notice that at any given time about 4 or 5 of the middies were on their knees on the field hurling their guts out. Yes, they went out drinking the night before. Those were the days when men were men! Lol! ;-) Now you know how I chose the name RugBear.
Rugby Bear. Light bulb. Love the Cal rugby history. This game had a lot of elements that reminded of the national championship that Cal won vs BYU about 20 years ago on the Farm BYU had some real beasts, including a guy reminded me of Jonah Lomu (considered one of the best wingers of all time). He wasn’t just stiff-arming his way past people, he was flinging them to the ground like they were little kids. BYU built a lead, but the Cal guys kept grinding. BYU were playing pretty dirty, and the ref was on them the whole game. He finally got tired of it and sin-binned the worst offender with about 10 minutes to go. BYU was running out of steam at that point, and Cal made up and then won it on the last possession. One of my favorite games ever. It demonstrated the qualities you can expect from Cal: a disciplined, fit, clean-playing team who will give it everything they can for the full 80 minutes. Looking forward to May 6th.
BTW, Navy are often showing up in the late stages of the championship. I didn’t realize that they had never played for the title.
Was the game down on the Farm the one where for the last two minute BYU was trying to pound it in from 2 yards out and CAL kept stuffing them until time ran out. I watched a bunch of the Nattys down there and that one stands out like no other. Incredibly physical and CAL stoned BYU at the end for the win.
That's the one! I failed to mention in my post that it was BYU that had that last possession. I've seen lots of Cal rugby since the '80's, including quite a few championships, that was one of the best. BYU was right on the doorstep, and those Cal guys refused to let them cross that line. One of the most amazing moments of the most storied American rugby program.
I think our last 15's Natty was 6 years ago. Navy is well coached, doesn't make many unforced errors and is very crisp with their passes. This will be a tough test for us; both are excellent teams.
I might have got myself a bit too excited when I wrote this article. Then again, unlike a school like Life or Lindenwood, service academies like Navy or Army won't have any semi-pro "ringers" to worry about. I do think there is a lot of parity among the top teams and it will be essentially a coin-flip, but the slight edge to Cal for the experiences in the coaching staff.
I think you are right and I agree there is a lot more parity at the top these days. While it may mean a tougher road to the Natty, its good for the sport and we can thank Jack Clark who had been such an ambassador the last 40 years, doing coaching clinics and rugby clinics to advance the sport. In any event, the final should be a great game!! Go Bears!
I like this idea. Btw, I played on our very first National Championship side in 1980. We still drank beers and sang songs after the games with our opponents, and we weren't allowed to lift guys in the line outs. I'll give you a couple of memories of that Championship weekend. The semis were played on a Saturday and the Final was on Sunday. We played at the Palmer College pitch on Credit Island in the middle of the Mississippi River outside of Davenport Iowa. The pitch was under 6 inches of water from recent rains so they went to a dandelion field and lined out to regulation pitches, mowed where the chalk line went and dug holes and place 4x4 in them for goal posts. We played Navy the first day and beat them. Physically they were the toughest college team we played that season and were much better than the Air Force team we beat on Sunday for the Natty. After the game on Saturday Coach Ned Anderson suggested that we abstain from drinking and partying for the night.
As we boarded the bus the next morning on our way to the field to play the Natty, we were missing our All American #8, Mark Deaton (who was really close buddies with our teammate and Eagle, Timmy O'Brien, now the coach at SMC). We got to the field and at the same time a car drove up and two beautiful gals got out followed by Mark. Apparently he did not get much sleep that night! But it didn't matter, he played great and scored one of our tries on a dish from yours truly. And while we waited for the consolation match to conclude between Navy and Illinois, we couldn't help but notice that at any given time about 4 or 5 of the middies were on their knees on the field hurling their guts out. Yes, they went out drinking the night before. Those were the days when men were men! Lol! ;-) Now you know how I chose the name RugBear.
Rugby Bear. Light bulb. Love the Cal rugby history. This game had a lot of elements that reminded of the national championship that Cal won vs BYU about 20 years ago on the Farm BYU had some real beasts, including a guy reminded me of Jonah Lomu (considered one of the best wingers of all time). He wasn’t just stiff-arming his way past people, he was flinging them to the ground like they were little kids. BYU built a lead, but the Cal guys kept grinding. BYU were playing pretty dirty, and the ref was on them the whole game. He finally got tired of it and sin-binned the worst offender with about 10 minutes to go. BYU was running out of steam at that point, and Cal made up and then won it on the last possession. One of my favorite games ever. It demonstrated the qualities you can expect from Cal: a disciplined, fit, clean-playing team who will give it everything they can for the full 80 minutes. Looking forward to May 6th.
BTW, Navy are often showing up in the late stages of the championship. I didn’t realize that they had never played for the title.
Was the game down on the Farm the one where for the last two minute BYU was trying to pound it in from 2 yards out and CAL kept stuffing them until time ran out. I watched a bunch of the Nattys down there and that one stands out like no other. Incredibly physical and CAL stoned BYU at the end for the win.
That's the one! I failed to mention in my post that it was BYU that had that last possession. I've seen lots of Cal rugby since the '80's, including quite a few championships, that was one of the best. BYU was right on the doorstep, and those Cal guys refused to let them cross that line. One of the most amazing moments of the most storied American rugby program.