Golden Nuggets: Cal Rugby Tops Rival UBC In Match One of the World Cup

In an annual tradition since 1921, Cal faced off against the University of British Columbia in game one of the World Cup series. Cal continued its streak of dominance by building a 28-3 advantage before UBC began to chip away at the lead. Cal won 28-18 and takes a 10-point lead into next month's second leg of the series.

"It means a lot to get a victory over UBC," said captain and try-scorer Seamus Kelly. "Every guy had a good moment and I'm proud of the guys."

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The Bears are sure to miss the crowd that supported them Saturday in Strawberry Canyon when these teams resume their series in Thunderbird Stadium. "Motivation is there with this crowd - it's just amazing," said Webb of the Witter Rugby Field faithful. "I think our best offense was our defense. I'm proud of how we stuck together."

"We put ourselves under some pressure in the first half with some penalties and handling errors, but we played some pretty courageous defense during that stretch," said Cal head coach Jack Clark. "We found our stride in the middle part of the match and ran in some tries. We could have closed the game out better, but UBC gets some credit for that. There was a little bit of everything in that game and a lot of lessons."

British Columbia head coach Spence McTavish, whose team fell to 10-2-1 following its loss, concurred that the first half saw his team "put quite a bit of pressure and we certainly had the majority of the field position, but we were trying to rush things too much. I thought some of the young guys really fronted up, so I'm pretty pleased with that. We've got 80 minutes [to play in the rematch], so let's see if we can get those 10 points and few more at home."

In a frosh-soph match following the First XV, California defeated Santa Rosa Junior College, 72-12, to bring the Golden Bears' season record to 11-0 overall (1-0 PAC Rugby Conference).

Despite facing a tough challenge from UBC, Cal has outscored its opponents 800-50 (how about that for a nice pair of round numbers?).

Football

• ESPN finds draftable replacements for 17 of the NFL's top veterans/retiring players. Keenan Allen would fill in nicely for Percy Harvin at Minnesota.
• The university released its latest quarterly financial statement for the Endowment Seating Program. Cal has begun to release quarterly statements to promote the program's transparency.

Basketball

• Facing their toughest remaining opponent on the schedule, the no. 6 Bears routed no. 15 UCLA 79-51. Cal had a whopping 15 steals, led by Brittany Body's 10 steals. This was UCLA's first home loss in conference play.

Baseball

• Andrew Knapp's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 11th gave Cal a win in the season-opener.
• The Bears took the second game of the series to extra innings. Mike Reuvekamp's 10th inning single allowed Brian Celsi to tag home and give Cal a 6-5 victory.

Softball

• No. 8 Cal opened the Easton Desert Classic with a 5-0 win over Nevada. Jolene Henderson had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the seventh.
• The Bears defeated Utah Valley 12-4 and San Jose State 6-0 on Saturday. After a 1-2 start to the season, Cal has won five straight and outscored opponents 39-5.

Tennis

• Cal dropped its match against no. 4 Ohio State during the first round of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships.
• The Bears bounced back with a win over no. 11 Florida.

Swimming and Diving

• The no. 7 Bears upset no. 2 Stanford 154.5-145.5. Caitlin Leverenz won four events in the last home meet of her career at Cal.