No. 1-Ranked Cal Advances to Rugby National Championship Game

Cal rolls past Saint Mary's in the semifinals and now faces Navy as the Bears seek a second straight national title

Cal rugby versus Saint Mary's | Photo by Troy Jones

No. 1-ranked Cal advanced to the national D1A rugby championship game for the second year in a row with an easier-than-expected, 59-19, semifinal  victory over Saint Mary’s before a capacity crowd at Cal’s Witter Rugby Field on Saturday afternoon.

Unbeaten Cal looks to win the college rugby 15s national title for the second straight year in next Saturday’s championship game in Indianapolis, where it will face No. 2-ranked Navy, which overcame a 21-0 halftime deficit to defeat Life University 35-21 in the other semifinal on Saturday on Navy’s home field.

Navy is the title game for the third time in four years, and the Midshipmen defeated Cal in the 2023 championship match.

Navy’s only loss this season came against Cal, which defeated the Midshipmen 52-45 in a riveting, back-and-forth rugby contest back on March 7 in Berkeley.

Cal was impressive in Saturday’s semifinal victory, which was contention at times as a few scuffles arose between the two East Bay rivals.

Cal in general and Nate Comiskey in particular have been dominant in the postseason. Cal defeated its three playoff opponents by a combined score of 243-36.

Cal’s Comiskey scored three tries, giving him a team-leading 21 for the season, as the Bears rolled past the Gaels.

Cal had defeated Saint Mary’s 66-35 in the teams’ final regular-season game back on March 28 in Moraga. But Cal was even more dominant is the national semifinal contest.

The Bears took control of the game following a couple of fracases midway through the first half.

A try awarded to Cal on a Saint Mary’s penalty after Cal was within inches of the try line four minutes into the game was countered by a try from Saint Mary’s Benny Hatch, who picked up a loose ball and scampered 40 meters to tie the game 7-7.

After Talae Tuimaunei scored a try to put the Bears ahead 12-7, two brief scuffles on a subsequent Cal possession ultimately led to Comiskey’s first try with the Gaels a man down.

That put the Bears ahead 17-7, and it became a 24-7 contest on Comiskey’s second try four minutes before halftime.

A Solomon Williams try off a long run by Max Threlkeld with just seconds left in the first half gave Cal a 31-7 lead at halftime.

A Cal rolling maul led to Comiskey’s third try of the game and a 38-7 Cal lead six minutes into the second half before Saint Mary’s Atelea Tengei scored a try with 11 minutes gone in the second half to end the Bears’ 31-point scoring run.

Tuimaunei scored his second try of the contest, and Cormac Saint, Brian McKeon and Michal de Beer added tries for Cal to set the Bears final total.

It is the eighth straight game in which Cal has scored more than 50 points.

Cal now turns its attention to Navy.

Cal owns an 18-3 record alltime against the Midshipmen, including this year’s regular-season win over Navy. However, Navy defeated Cal 27-3 during the regular season last year.

Cal won the 2025 national championship by beating Saint Mary’s in the semifinals and Life University in the title match.

And it appeared Cal’s title-game opponent again would be Life, when the Running Eagles took a 21-0 lead at halftime over Navy in the other semifinal in the East.  But the Midshipmen reeled off five consecutive tries in the second half to earn its berth in the national championship match.