Cal Rugby Bounces Back With a Big Win

Cal bounced back from its subpar performance on Saturday with a dominant 76-14 rugby victory over Grand Canyon on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Bears (9-0) scored 12 tries while remaining unbeaten in rugby 15 play, and they may have wiped away the bad taste left by Saturday’s narrow, 57-51 victory over Arizona, a team Cal typically dominates.

Cal is the No. 4-ranked college team in the College Rugby Association of America rankings, and is No. 2 in the Goff Rugby Report rankings.

Monday’s strong showing was needed as Cal now heads into the meat of its rugby 15 spring season. Cal’s next four matches are against traditional powers BYU (February 21 in Berkeley), Navy (March 7 in Berkeley), Army (March 14 on the road) and Saint Mary’s (March 28 on the road) before the Bears try to repeat as national champions in the postseason.

Cal is the defending national champion, but it was difficult to gauge its strength this season coming into Monday’s contest. The Bears were impressive in a 38-7 victory over the University of British Columbia in Vancouver on February 7, but then barely avoided an major upset in the victory over Arizona on Saturday, with none of the Cal players and coaches being satisfied with their performance.

However, Cal took care of Grand Canyon on the Lopes’ home field on Monday.

Nate Comiskey scored three tries, and Masi Koi and Byron Finley scored two tries apiece for Cal, which sprinted to a 45-0 halftime lead, then coasted home in the second half when both teams used a lot of substitutes.

The only negative for Cal was an injury that forced William Schreckengaust to leave the game.

Finley scored the first try about seven minutes into the game, and Cormac Saint added the first of his seven conversions.

Cal showed its muscle three minutes later by using a maul to move close to the touchline before Comiskey scored the try to make it 14-0.

The Bears then broke it open with five tries in the final 15 minutes of the half. Elias Smith, Koi, Michal De Beer, Oliver Kirk and Peter Symington scored those tries in rapid succession to make it 45-0 at halftime and end any doubt.

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