Cal Rugby visits St. Mary's College in D1A Quarterfinal
The 1 PM PT match is streamed on YouTube
While Cal Rugby’s postseason started last weekend, there was little doubt that the Golden Bears would get past Cal Poly. Cal opened the 2024 playoffs with a dominant 70-13 victory last Saturday. Things get drastically harder this weekend with a road match at the nearby St. Mary’s College. But it sounds like the Golden Bears will be back closer to full strength for the first time since their notable win over the defending national champion, Navy, on March 16th.
Cal closed the regular season with a close 38-31 road loss at SMC. This allowed SMC to earn a better seed and a home-field advantage for today’s rematch. The two sides also met at this round last year, when the Cal Bears avenged a 38-34 regular season loss with a 29-28 thriller at SMC.
According to the official Cal Rugby press release:
Cal is hopeful to have its roster return to full strength this weekend after being without several starters for the last few matches. If so, the Bears could make as many as eight changes from the side they fielded in the round of 16 and four changes from their regular season meeting with the Gaels. Senior co-captain Will Shankland is looking to return as the outside center after being out since Cal's victory over Navy on March 16. He is likely to be paired with sophomore inside center Max Threlkeld, who made his return to the pitch in the postseason round of 16 after being out with an injury sustained in the match against Navy.
Sophomores Solomon Williams and Rand Santos have been solid this season coupled as the scrumhalf and flyhalf, respectively, and are expected to play against the Gaels, in addition to senior Weigold and juniors Kirsten and O'Connell, who are likely to make up the deep three as the wingers and fullback.
The forward pack is also hopeful to get a boost from the returns of senior lock Pat Deely and junior backrower Jon Puckett. Puckett has been out since the beginning of March while Deely sustained an injury that has kept him out of Cal's last two contests. Junior backrower Hugo Schreuder is also hopeful to return after missing the first round of the playoffs. Schreuder is anticipated to join senior co-captain Alex Aguero in the backrow, who is expected to wear the No. 8 shirt. The front row will likely welcome back senior Emilio Shea as the loosehead prop, along with senior co-captain Charlie Walsh as the tighthead and sophomore Cade Crist as the hooker.
There is a lot of parity in collegiate rugby this season. Both Cal and SMC are capable of being the national champion when the D1A Rugby playoff is over on May 4th in Houston. Let’s take a look at the playoff bracket again.
The D1A Colege Rugby Championship field was expanded from 12 to 16 teams between the 2023 and the 2024 season. While there were no upsets last weekend, all eight remaining teams could win it all.
Last year, SMC Gaels had a bye before the rematch against Cal. This year, they had a rout over Grand Canyon last weekend. SMC is led by their Rudy Scholz finalist Dominic Besag in the midfield. Besag had a notable match against Cal by scoring four tries.
Conversely, Cal does not have a Rudy Scholz finalist this year. Sophomore forward Cade Christ was a nominee but did not make the four-person shortlist. Although Cal may not have a clear star on the squad, they have plenty of solid and experienced players. The return of the injured players should help with the depth and freshness at the end of the match.
This Cal at SMC match could really go either way. It could very well be another one-score match that is decided by the executions in that one final possession at the end of the 80 minutes. It should be a fun one!
Cal (11-3) at SMC (16-1)
Where: Saint Mary's Stadium (Moraga, CA)
When: April 13th, 1 PM PT
GO BEARS!
St. Mary's lead widens to 34-6 with 12 minutes left. That's probably curtains.
St Mary's up 20-6 at half, two penalty tries for Cal the only scoring. Bears got work to do.