Cal Rugby playing for National Championship No.35 (30th in Rugby 15s)
Cal vs. Navy on Saturday at 4 pm PT (YouTube)
With both schools having been in two of the past three national title games coming into the 2026 season, it is no surprise that the 2026 Men’s D1A National Championship will be between the California Golden Bears (14-0) and Navy Midshipmen (13-1).
Cal will be seeking revenge for losing the 2023 championship final to Navy. Quite a few players on both sides, now seniors, played in that one as freshmen. Navy lost the 2024 championship final to St. Mary’s. Cal, of course, is the defending national champion with the 2025 championship final win over Life. In other words, both sides are loaded with experienced players who have lived the highs and lows on collegiate rugby’s biggest stage.
In the D1A National Semifinals last Saturday, Cal had little to no issue against St. Mary’s, never trailing in a 59-19 victory. Navy, on the other hand, had to come back from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Life 35-21 in their semifinal.
Five different Golden Bears were responsible for 9 tries for Cal. Nate Comiskey recorded a hat trick while Talae Tuimaunei registered a brace. Filip Edstrom, who just returned from injury in the previous weekend’s victory over BYU, again took over the kicking.
Cal made one small change to the lineup from the previous week, with forward Alex Vieira returning to the starting lineup after missing the previous two weeks. Vieira played an important setup role, along with Solomon Williams, Rand Santos, and Edstrom, that resulted in the 24th minute try by Nate Comiskey. Golden Bears never got challenged score-wise after that point.
Scoring Timeline:
Cal vs. Saint Mary's
5:00 – Cal (Penalty Try), 7
9:00 – Benny Hatch, 5, Ollie Cline, 2 (Saint Mary's)
13:00 – Talae Tuimaunei, 5
24:00 – Nate Comiskey, 5
37:00 – Nate Comiskey, 5
40:00 – Solomon Williams, 5 Filip Edstrom, 2
Half: Cal, 31, Saint Mary's, 7
46:00 – Nate Comiskey, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
51:00 – Atalea Tengei, 5, Ollie Cline, 2
62:00 – Talae Tuimaunei, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
68:00 – Cormac Saint, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
74:00 – Brian McKeon, 5
79:00 – Michál de Beer, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
Final: Cal, 59, Saint Mary's, 19
Starting XV:
1. Talae Tuimaunei (Jayden Flores 73') 2. Alex Vieira 3. Cade Crist (William Schreckengaust 76') 4. Byron Finley 5. Seamus Deely 6. Brice Muller (Tommy Rainsford 68') 7. Ryan Wenstrom (Elliott Lewis 66') 8. Oliver Teague (Elias Smith 66') 9. Solomon Williams (Cormac Saint 62') 10. Rand Santos (Michál de Beer 62') 11. Masi Koi 12. Filip Edstrom 13. Max Threlkeld 14. Nate Comiskey 15. Oliver Newall
In the regular season, Cal defeated Navy 52-45 on March 7th in Berkeley. That was the homecoming match that saw the Bears holding on to the lead late despite playing 13-on-15.
Roanin Krieger scored two tries and made 6/7 conversions in that match. Krieger is Navy’s counterpart to Cal’s Solomon Williams as the Rudy Scholz Award, given each year to the top collegiate rugby player in America, finalist. As a freshman in 2023, Krieger was 4-for-4 in conversions in helping Navy to a 28-22 win over Cal in the National Championship match.
The all-time record for Cal against Navy is 18-3, but Navy has obviously improved tremendously in rugby in recent years.
As mentioned in the recent Golden Nuggets, Cal fans who did not travel to Indianapolis can watch the game at Headlands on Campus. Between 3 PM and 7 PM, fans (of both rugby and/or just beers) can get 20% off pitchers!
Even with Cal playing much more dominant postseason rugby than Navy, one can never assume anything in a national championship match, even if Cal Bears would surely be considered the favorites. That homecoming match really could have gone either way; both sides showed tremendous ability to score quickly.
Last year’s national championship final between Cal and Life was the highest-scoring one in history. Cal was able to triumph 55-38 at the end of a frantic 80 minutes. Head coach Jack Clark credited the win to the resolve of the since-graduated former captain Charlie Walsh.
2026 Captain Rand Santos got some big shoes to fill. Then again, Santos, Williams, and Threlkeld have been in the Cal starting lineups since their freshman year, starting in that 2023 national championship final loss to Navy in Houston, TX.
There is no better way to cap off those fine Cal Rugby careers than with a perfect season and lifting the championship trophy.
2026 Men’s D1A National Championship
Who: California Golden Bears (14-0) vs. Navy Midshipmen (13-1)
When: Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, at 4 PM PT
Where: Kuntz Stadium (Indianapolis, IN)
TV/Stream: YouTube (embedded above)
ROLL ON YOU BEARS!