Cal Hosts Saint Mary's in National Rugby Semifinals Saturday

The men's contest at Cal is sold out. Cal's women's club rugby squad plays for a national title Saturday night

Cal rugby hosts semifinal match Saturday | Photo by RudyPics

Cal faces East Bay rival Saint Mary’s in Berkeley on Saturday afternoon with a berth in the college rugby national championship game on the line.

The semifinal contest between Cal (12-1) and the Gaels will be played at Cal’s Witter Rugby Field on Saturday, April 19, starting at 1 p.m. and is already sold out.  The winner of the Cal-Saint Mary’s matchup will play in the May 3 national championship match in Indianapolis against the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal game between Life University and Lindenwood College.

Cal is ranked fourth in the country by both the Goff Rugby Report and RugbyHawk, while Saint Mary’s (10-3) is No. 5 in the Goff rankings and No. 6 in the RugbyHawk rankings.

Meanwhile, the Cal women’s rugby club team will face Stanford in the D1 women's national championship game at Stanford on Saturday, April 19, at 7 p.m. The Golden Bears defeated Claremont to reach the title match for the first time.

The Saint Mary’s men are the defending national champions and along the way they defeated Cal 34-16 in the national quarterfinals in 2024.  But that match was in Moraga, California, and this time the teams will meet at Cal. 

Just four weeks ago, the Golden Bears and Saint Mary’s played both teams’ final regular-season match at Cal, and the Golden Bears won that contest 48-45 in a riveting back-and-forth struggle. The two rivals have played many tense, close contests over the years, and a similar match is expected Saturday.

Saturday’s Cal-Saint Mary’s game will be streamed on The Rugby Network, although a subscription may be required to view the match live.

The last time Cal played in the national championship game was 2023, when the Golden Bears lost to Navy. The last time Cal won the national college rugby championship was 2011, although the Golden Bears captured the 2017 Varsity Cup, which was a postseason national rugby tournament.

Below is a preview of Saturday's Cal-Saint Mary's semifinal match:

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