(Berkeley, California) Blaine Scully scored tries in each half to pace Cal in a 31-15 comeback victory over the Univ. of British Columbia, a worthy contest played before a sellout Witter Rugby Field crowd of 2,600.
The junior wing's second five-pointer, at 68 minutes, closely followed a stunning 40-yard jaunt by fellow All-American Dustin Muhn. Taking a right-sideline pass from center Colin Hawley, Muhn stepped through or sliced by at least four defenders before grounding the eventual gamewinner near the sticks.
UBC flyhalf Harry Jones's solo try had put the Thunderbirds ahead 15-14 after 51 minutes, silencing a throng that also included 200 or so seated high on the slopes of Strawberry Canyon. Coming soon after Jones had made an end-of-half touchdown for center Jon Anthony, the knifing run to the posts not only erased the Bear lead but also appeared to dispirit a tired home pack.
Rarely are Cal's outside backs so vital to an important win, but in fullback James Bailes, Scully, Muhn, and Hawley, who assisted all three tries, the Bears are shaping up as one of the country's best crews, at any level.
The first of the annual two-match series was closer than the scoreline suggests, in part because the Thunderbirds controlled setpiece play: predictably in the scrums, where the Thunderbirds feature two of their Canadian age-grade players, and surprisingly in the lineouts, where the Bears looked uncharacteristically ragged.
The visitors also made some deft tactical changes. Trailing 11-3 after 35 minutes, they climbed back into the contest behind skillful chip kicks over the hard-charging Cal backline defense and improved back five support play. But the Thunderbirds were consistently nervy inside their 25.
At flyhalf, Cal's Keegan Engelbrecht kicked effectively from hand and totaled 16 points on 6-of-9 goalkicking -- including a first-half droppie -- to outpoint Jones, who is tipped for near-term promotion to Canada's senior national team. The UBC sophomore missed must-have penalty chances in each half, and was largely shut down by an innovative defensive scheme, soundly drawn and well executed.
The Bear win also required some highlight plays, including two try-saving tackles from man-of-the-match Muhn and Hawley's off-the-ground assist of Scully's second score, which underlined not only the center's athletic playmaking but also a sensible afternoon's work by referee Aruna Ranaweera.
The so-called World Cup series, narrowly headed 6-5 by Cal over the last 6 years (28 tries to 27), proved a very good coming-out party for the National Guard Game of the Week [sic]. Featuring a resplendent field, all the pageantry of a college varsity sport, and no spare seats in the bleachers or around the sidelines, the ESPNU broadcast will not be mistaken for a tavern-league event.
Final: Univ. of California 31 Univ of British Columbia 15 (halftime: Cal 11-8)
Cal
Tries: Blaine Scully (2), Dustin Muhn
Conversions: Keenan Engelbrecht (2)
Penalties: Keenan Engelbrecht (3)
Field goal: Keenan Engelbrecht
UBC
Tries: Jon Anthony, Harry Jones
Conversion: Harry Jones
Penalty: Harry Jones
Referee: Aruna Ranaweera
Attendance: 2,800 (estimated)
What was written is what I saw on the day, nicely done KO. UBC seemed to win all ball, Cals' lineouts were as poor as I've seen in the past 5 years, scrummages were dead equal - the pack seemingly did not move - a rarity in US college rugby. KO's dead on accurate - Cal likely does not win without what was a spectacular effort from all of their back line, esp Mr. Muhn who made at least two last-man tackles that would and should have been sure tries for UBC. Frankly UBC looked the better team but some high end individual performances put Cal over the top. Good show by both teams & I hope it plays well on TV.
Posted by: ecm | 21 February 2009 at 20:51
Off topic: but relating to college rugby. PSU has just now begun live streaming certain events. if you see this 10am-noon today (sunday) you can see what they are streaming now. which is the girl's high school clinic. But they will be streaming matches that take place in the indoor facility (vs. army next wkend) and eventually all their matches (internet access is needed out at the fields). check it out: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/penn-state-rugby
pretty sure this is unprecedented for any college side if not any program in the us outside USA Rugby run stuff
Posted by: baby steps | 22 February 2009 at 07:18
(actually next wk's saturday match (2/28) between PSU and Army will be streamed live online at 8am e.t. free of charge. link at www.psurugby.org)
2600 for the Cal match!! in that very personal venue it is going to look awesome when it gets broadcast.
Does anyone think that if today's ABC sevens broadcast gets great numbers that maybe these college matches get bumped to a better channel? I do
Posted by: ! | 22 February 2009 at 09:36
funny that Cal's Sports Information office uses the vague term "capacity crowd" in its press release. Yet Witter's "Capacity" is 5,000 -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Golden_Bears#Rugby_Union
What kind of fuzzy math are they doing there? Is the stadium partially closed off?
Posted by: Vince McMahon | 22 February 2009 at 14:33
Vince,
It all depends on how many stands they roll in. Yesterday was at capacity...
Posted by: noon | 22 February 2009 at 17:35
I've seen a Cal-UBC game at Witter and 2600 sounds about right. There isn't enough space for 5K.
Posted by: Flynn Hagerty | 23 February 2009 at 04:32
Flynn - they brought in additional stands mate, please don't comment if you were not there.
Posted by: Vinny | 23 February 2009 at 07:13
Who cares, all the seats were full, people standing everywhere they could stand, so the event staff closed the gate. Lots of people climbed tight-wad hill to take the game in.
It was a bigger crowd than Stanford gets for the National Championships.
Good event.
Posted by: good event | 23 February 2009 at 07:54