Cal Loses to Saint Mary's in Rugby
Cal suffered a rare rugby loss on Saturday, falling to Saint Mary's 32-14 in Moraga, Calif.
This was the second of three spring games that have been scheduled for the Golden Bears, and this was their only road game.
"The first thing to acknowledge is we were outplayed by Saint Mary's on the day," head coach Jack Clark said. "The second thing, is we didn't do our part to make the match more competitive on the scoreboard. We had our opportunities to ring the bell, but had too many critical errors at key moments. It's all fixable, but in a three-match truncated season there isn't really room for a performance you want back."
The Bears, who beat BYU in their first match of the spring, will have two weeks to prepare for their next match when they host Arizona on May 1 at Witter Rugby Field.
Saint Mary's is 2-0 after beating Central Washington 38-17 in the Gaels' first game.
The Gaels struck first Saturday, scoring a try and a penalty kick in the first 12 minutes of the contest.
Cal's lone first-half try was scored by freshman loosehead prop Charlie Walsh, who recorded his first collegiate try in the final minute to cut the Bears' deficit to 17-7 at the half.
Cal was unable to capitalize on several scoring opportunities in the second half.
Saint Mary's scored on a penalty kick in the 55th minute and a try in the 58th minute to take a commanding lead.
Junior fly half Sam Walsh converted a try for the Bears in the 70th minute, but the Gaels answered with another try of their own.
Cal later defeated Saint Mary's 54-7 in the reserve-grade game.
Scoring Timeline:
9:00 SMC 3 (SMC 3, Cal 0)
12:00 SMC 5, SMC 2 (SMC 10, Cal 0)
34:00 SMC 5, SMC 2 (SMC 17, Cal 0)
40:00 Cal: Charlie Walsh 5, Max Schumacher 2 (SMC 17, Cal 7)
Halftime Score: Cal 7, SMC 17
55:00 SMC 3 (SMC 20, Cal 7)
58:00 SMC 5 (SMC 25, Cal 7)
70:00 Cal: Sam Walsh 5, Sam Walsh 2 (SMC 25, Cal 14)
79:00 SMC 5, SMC 2 (SMC 32, Cal 14)
Cal starters:
1. Owen Duvall, 2. Jack Manzo, 3. Charlie Walsh, 4. Sam Golla, 5. Max Murphy, 6. Nathan Zylstra, 7. Jason Severance, 8. Jake Broekhuizen, 9. Ken Kurihara, 10. Sam Walsh, 11. Marcus Shankland, 12. Gavin Janis, 13. Seth Purdey, 14. Nick Bloom, 15. Max Schumacher
Cal Substitutions:
67:00 Mack Fell (Gavin Janis)
72:00 Garrett Kay (Jason Severance), Max Clark (Ken Kurihara), Michael Perrone (Charlie Walsh), Alex Brundage (Max Schumacher).
75:00 Nate Salter (Seth Purdey)
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Cover photo by Guy Warren Photography
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