Cal Blows By Cal Poly in Opening Round of National Rugby Playoffs

Cal puts up 70 points in the win and now faces Bay Area rival Saint Mary's next week in the quarterfinals of the college rugby playoffs. The Gaels beat the Golden Bears in the regular-season finale

Cal easily defeated Cal Poly 70-13 Saturday afternoon in Berkeley in a round-of-16 match in the national college rugby playoffs, but a significant challenge awaits the Bears next week.

The fourth-seeded Golden Bears (11-3) will travel to Moraga next Saturday for a quarterfinal game against top-seeded Saint Mary’s, which defeated Cal 38-31 in both teams’ final regular-season match last week. The two Bay Area rivals usually face each other in the national semifinals, but Cal is only a No. 4 seed this year, forcing the Bears to face the Gaels in the quarterfinals.

If Cal is able to upset Saint Mary's, it is likely to face second-seeded Central Washington in the semifinals, with a berth in the national championship game in Houston on the line.

Cal had no trouble with Cal Poly, a team the Bears had defeated 33-7 earlier this season.  In Saturday’s postseason match, Cal took command midway through the first half.

Evan Weigold scored three tries for Cal against the Mustangs, and Joe Kirsten and Oliver Newell scored two apiece for the Bears.

After Cal Poly (8-5) failed to jump ahead with a missed penalty kick, Cal took the lead on Newell’s try six minutes into the contest. Cal Poly drew within 7-3 on Coby Baker’s penalty kick, but it was all Cal after that.

A Clayton Seastrand try made the score 14-3, then Cal broke it open by scoring four tries in rapid succession by Weigold, Michal DeBeer, Kirsten and Rand Santos. That gave the Golden Bears a 38-3 advantage with about five minutes remaining in the first half.

Cal took a 38-8 lead into halftime, and although the Bears were less dominant in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, there was never any doubt about the outcome.

After Weigold’s second try of the match made the score 48-13, Cal substituted for many of its starters with 20 minutes remaining.

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