Cal Wins Second Straight National Rugby Championship

No. 1-ranked Cal won its second straight D1A national rugby championship and completed an unbeaten season by beating No. 2 Navy 36-22 in the national title game in Indianapolis on Saturday evening.

Cal has now won 30 national championships in rugby 15s competition, and 29 of those have come under head coach Jack Clark, now in his 43rd season at the helm for the Golden Bears.

The Beas have won consecutive national titles for the first time since 2016 and 2017 when they won the Varsity Cup version of the national championship.

Perhaps more significantly, Cal (14-0) finished off an unbeaten national championship season for the first time since 2011.

Cal demonstrated its speed and ball handling in Saturday’s win, but also demonstrated a level of physicality, which is the strength of Navy, whose only two losses this season both came against Cal.

Cal took a lead it never lost about one minute into the game, when Oliver Teague picked up a loose ball and raced 60 meters for a try that gave Cal a 7-0 lead after a Filip Edstrom conversion.

Navy closed the gap to 7-5 on a try by Jake Cornelius after a successful Navy maul, but Roanin Kreiger failed to hit the conversion.

Cal made it 12-5 on a Cade Crist try midway through the first half that resulted from an impressive maul by the Golden Bears off of a lineout.

Edstrom missed a penalty kick from about 20 meters out, but a nifty, long run by Rand Santos set up Seamus Deely for a try that gave the Bears a 19-5 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the half.

Speedy Masi Koi set sail on a 50-meter run off a scrum that resulted in a try and a 26-5 lead for Cal at halftime.

Despite the 21-point lead, the win was not assured. Just last week, Navy rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit to beat Life 35-21 in the semifinals.

Navy scored first in the second half on a Kreider penalty boot that reduced the margin to 18 points, but Cal responded with a critical try by Nate Comiskey that made it a 31-8 game 12 minutes into the second half.

Cal played most of the rest of the game a man down, and Navy took advantage with a try by Tanner Cal, making the score 31-15 with 20 minutes left.

Navy’s Drew Baublitz made it interesting by scoring a try that made it 31-22 with 12 minutes remaining.

Cal failed to score on two long penetrations; however, those possessions ate up a lot of time.

When Comiskey scored his second try of the game – and 23rd of the season -- with about a minute to go, the Bears had their second straight national title in hand.

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