Cal Loses to Saint Mary’s in National Rugby Championship Quarterfinal

Cal’s rugby season ends with a defeat in Moraga against its Bay Area rival on Saturday

Cal was eliminated from the D1 national collegiate rugby championships by Saint Mary’s, which handed the Golden Bears a 34-16 defeat in Saturday’s quarterfinal match in Moraga, California.

The Gaels, who are the top seed in the East Region, dominated most of the game while defeating Cal for the second time this season.  Saint Mary’s (17-1) beat Cal 38-31 in the final regular-season game for both teams, but the Gaels were more dominant this time on their home turf.

Fourth-seeded Cal finishes the season with an 11-4 record.  The last time the Bears won the national collegiate rugby championship was in 2011, although they did win a national title in the Varsity Cup in 2017.

Saint Mary’s took control early.  Despite being down a man, the Gaels took a 5-0 lead 11 minutes into the match on a try by King Matu, who scored off a scrum deep in Cal territory.

Cal reduced the margin to 5-3 on Kealan O’Connell’s three-point penalty kick, but Mario Storti put up three points for Saint Mary’s on a penalty boot a few minutes later.

Dom Besag’s try and Storti’s conversion made it a 15-3 match in the Gaels’ favor with seven minutes remaining in the half.

Although O’Connell added another three-point kick to reduce the margin to 15-6, Saint Mary’s JT Toia’ivao scored a back-breaking try on the final possession of the first half to give the Gaels a 20-6 lead at intermission.

Saint Mary’s prevented any chance for a second-half Cal comeback when Kaipono Kayoshi scored a try for the Gaels less than three minutes into the second half.  That made the score 27-6, and Saint Mary’s Sosaia Pongi put the game out of reach by scoring a try with less than 16 minutes to go, giving the Gaels a 34-6 lead after the conversion.

Cal made the final score respectable by scoring its only two tries of the match in the final 10 minutes.  Rand Santos’ try with eight minutes remaining made it 34-11 and a final Cal try in the final minute set the final score.

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