Cal Rugby Semifinal Preview: When Is a 50-14 Loss Not a 50-14 Loss?

A berth in the national title game is at stake Saturday when the Golden Bears host BYU, which clobbered Cal four weeks ago

If you just look at past scores, you would assume Cal’s rugby team has no chance against BYU, the team the Golden Bears will face in the D1A National Collegiate Championship semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cal’s Witter Field.

The Cougars dominated Cal in every way possible on March 25 in Provo, Utah, posting a 50-14 victory over the Bears, one of their most lopsided defeats in recent history.

But there is an asterisk. The BYU-Cal match had been postponed from its original date, and a few days before their rescheduled regular-season finale on March 25, the seedings and pairings for the National Collegiate Championships had been announced. Cal was seeded second and BYU third. Opting to rest his frontline players in a match that was meaningless in terms of the postseason, Cal coach Jack Clark sent his reserve team – a second-string unit – to face BYU, letting his regular starters sit out.

“It rendered the game less important in terms of playoffs,” Cal co-captain Max Schumacher said.

But the decisiveness of that BYU victory as well as the Cougars’ domination of top-seeded Central Washington 62-31 in last week’s quarterfinals suggest BYU poses a major threat to Cal, which, if it wins Saturday, would advance to the May 6 national championship game in Houston against the winner of the other semifinal game between top-ranked, unbeaten Navy and Lindenwood.

“They’re a good team,” Schumacher said of BYU. “It’s playoffs now, so you’re not going to face somebody that’s not up to snuff with the national quality of rugby.”

That was not always the case. Ten or 15 years ago, Cal would run through virtually every college opponent it faced. The Golden Bears have won 28 national titles in rugby 15s, but they have not won one since 2017, a testament to the rise in quality of college rugby.

“The growth of rugby in America is a continuing narrative,” Schumacher said.

Cal has had some memorable games against Bay Area rival Saint Mary's in recent years, and the Golden Bears' nail-biting, 29-28 victory over the Gaels in last week's quarterfinals put Cal in position to face BYU.

"It was a helluva match, came down to the last second," Schumacher said of last week's victory.

BYU has excelled in rugby for some time now, and the Cougars will come to Berkeley with a strong unit that won’t get pushed around by Cal, which has a relatively young squad.

“They’re a physical team,” Schumacher said. “We’re going to have to get in front of them and make some tackles, and we’re prepared to do that.”

Thay are prepared by Clark, one of the top rugby coaches in America and the chief reason Cal is among the best in the country every year.

“I think the main thing is that he has so much experience,” Schumacher said. “Over four decades of coaching at Cal, long-standing tradition of winning championships.”

This is Clark’s 40th season as the Golden Bears head coach, and he is responsible for 24 of Cal’s national championships in rugby 15s. He needs his team to get past BYU to have a chance for another.

.

Cover photo by Alex Ho

.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport