Cal: 60
St. Mary's: 34
Bringing you all the match highlights of college rugby in America!
April 12, 2011
CPD Pacific: Cal vs St. Mary's
Did USA Rugby name a Barnburner of the Week? It appears they did not, but they can be given a pass since the choice was obvious. Outside of BYU and Cal there is no more explosive team than the St. Mary's Gaels. They've been stalking the Bears for several years now, looking for a big scalp and a place among the elite of the elite in college rugby. Two years ago they held Cal 20-5 at home, and the year before that a Kevin Swiryn led team gave Cal a semi-final scare in the playoffs. This past Sunday, the Gaels played fast and loose as they are want to do and threw everything they had at the Bears on offense. Their defense, however, was not there and the Bears could not be contained. The Gaels may have lost, but you can bet no one wants to face the small Moraga college come playoffs.
Cal: 60
St. Mary's: 34
Cal: 60
St. Mary's: 34
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5 comments:
Looked like the makings of an epic match. Looks like SMC needs more stands. Fantastic match boys.
As a spectator of this match I have to say that it was not great. Sure it was open and flowing game, but both sides made many mistakes. Cal was making most of these mistakes. If Cal had been playing well there is no doubt in my mind that the score would have been more like 75-18. Also the ref was absolutely terrible. He made some atrocious calls. Cal got a yellow after one high tackle, however SMC didn't get a single one even though they committed 3 professional fouls which is an automatic yellow! Obvious foul play like that is dangerous and cause people to turn away from rugby as a sport. Also the fact that they asked for people to not bring alcohol was just ridiculous. Had I known that I probably wouldn't have gone to watch!
For St. Marys to score 34 points against Cal's 1st side speaks to their explosiveness on offense. Unfortunately on defense the St. Marys back line did not mark Cal's backs and repeatedly gave them a 2 man outside overlap which Cal easily exploited for 4 of its tries.
The anonymous post above from the spectator that didn't think it was a great match and was upset he couldn't bring in alcohol......get a clue. Two of the best sides in the country meet on a beautiful day in Moraga. There was a ton of buildup prior to the match, it was a very physical match, and all you can say is there were many mistakes? Go back under your rock. There were great athletic plays made all day, the fitness level of both teams was unbelievable, and with both teams wanting to run from anywhere on the pitch it made for an exciting game. And with that style of play there mistakes, which is to be expected. As for the referee, he was terrible, but favored Cal, not St Mary's. 10 minutes before the yellow card for the high tackle by Cal he had penalized Cal and warned for another high tackle. He could have yellow carded both teams for professional fouls a couple of times, so stop crying about the ref. Sounds like a Cal fan who isn't happy they only won by 26.
Personally, I'll take open/adventurous Barbarians style rugby any day over methodical/plodding rugby. Big props for SMC for always playing that brand of rugby.
As for the atmosphere? Unbelievable. You had what looked like the entire student body enveloping the playing field and not further than a few meters from any part of the sideline. I think I even saw a couple feet over the line in the back of the endzone! Wonderful, amazing atmosphere for a match.
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