Cal heads into the postseason unbeaten, hoping to win its second straight national title
Cal’s No. 1-ranked rugby squad finished the regular-season unbeaten by scoring an impressive 66-37 victory over previously undefeated Saint Mary’s before a crowd of more than 3,000 on Saturday afternoon in Moraga.
The Bears used a try in the final seconds of the first half and a mistake by the Gaels on the opening kickoff of the second half to turn a tight game in Cal’s favor in this contest between the two best college rugby programs in the West. Masi Koi had three tries for Cal, which will now turn its attention to the postseason as it attempts to win the national championship for the second year in a row. East Bay rivals Cal and Saint Mary’s are a good bet to meet again in the postseason. Cal presumably will be the top seed in the West and the Gaels are expected to be the West’s No. 2 seed in the national playoffs, which begin April 11. If the results go as expected, Cal and Saint Mary’s would meet again on April 25 in the national semifinals, with the winner advancing to the May 2 national championship game in Indianapolis against the East winner. By virtue of its convincing victory on Saturday, Cal would host the Gaels on April 25 in the semifinals, assuming both teams advance that far. Cal was ranked No. 1 in all notable rankings coming into Saturday’s contest, while Saint Mary’s is No. 3 in the Goff Rugby Report rankings released this week and No. 5 in the College Rugby Association of America rankings released two weeks ago.When Saint Mary’s used a powerful maul to score a try with seven minutes left in the first half, the Gaels held a 23-19 lead. But in the closing seconds of the first half, Solomon Williams scored a try from close range to give the Bears a 26-23 halftime lead. The entire complexion of the game changed on the opening kickoff of the second half. A pair of Saint Mary’s players miscommunicated on Rand Santos’ kickoff, and neither fielded it. Koi gobbled up the loose ball and ran it in for a try that gave the Bears a 33-23 lead less than 10 seconds into the second half after Santos’ conversion. That was part of a run of 33 consecutive points scored by Cal, turning the tight contest into a one-sided affair. Another Koi try five minutes into the second half following a Saint Mary’s mistake pushed Cal’s lead to 38-23, a Max Trelkeld try increased the Cal advantage to 45-23 about 17 minutes into the second half, and a Ryan Wenstrom try midway through the second half pushed Cal’s lead to 52-23 and essentially ended Saint Mary’s hopes. This was Cal’s third straight win over Saint Mary’s in this annual East Bay rugby rivalry, and the Bears also now hold a 10-9 advantage over the Gales over the past 14 years, when this rivalry really started to heat up. Current Saint Mary’s head coach Tim O’Brien played his college rugby at Cal in the early 1980s, when Cal dominated college rugby, but he came up on the short end against his alma mater on Saturday.Cal took an early 12-3 lead when nicely placed cross-field kicks by Santos led to tries by Koi and Nate Comiskey. But the Gaels zoomed to an 18-12 lead, and after Cal retook the lead 19-18 on a Comiskey try off a rolling maul, Saint Mary’s used a maul to power across for a try that gave the Gaels a 23-19 advantage.JAKE CURTIS Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.
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