Flyhalf Augie Heath stroked a 76th-minute penalty goal to boost St. Mary's past Cal 20-18 Saturday in a non-league match, the Gaels' first over their San Francisco 'East Bay' rivals since 1990.
The upset may fuel speculation that Cal exited USARFU's division 1A competition because of worries about a subpar 2012 edition. It's more plausible that the country's most distinguished university team departed in response to the then-College Premier Division's inability to generate revenue for competitors, an explicit launch goal.
The Bears have been concerned with the financial consequences of regaining varsity status and two years without a home game.
Ottawa will host the North America-Carribean qualifying tournament for the 2013 7s World Cup this August 25-26 at Twin Elm Park.
Two teams will reach the finals in Moscow, which is expected to be the last of six editions, as the abbreviated game will feature in the Summer Olympics beginning 2016. The competitors include the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States.
The outcome is not expected to have any bearing on Olympic qualification, as the qualification proposal isn't due for submission to the International Olympic Committee until next year.
International lock Hayden Smith has signed a contract with the NFL's New York Jets, ruling the 2011 World Cup veteran out of the summer and fall internationals. The 27-year-old, 18-cap veteran has been playing with London's Saracens.
The 6'7", 265 pound Australian native came to Amercia on a basketball scholarship to Denver's Metro State, and played for Denver's Barbarians before going to the English Premiership club.
The semifinals and finals of this weekend's National Small College Rugby Organization's division 3 championship will be broadcast on a tape delay basis. The competitors are Franciscan University (Steubenville, OH) vs. Salve Regina University (Newport, RI) and the University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL) vs. Cal Maritime (Vallejo, CA).
Cal Maritime upended Nebraska's Wayne State 29-12 this weekend to claim the final spot.
Also this weekend, New York Athletic Club downed Life University 40-23 in a key Super League East matchup, while in non-conference action, San Francisco Golden Gate rebounded from last week's home RSL West loss to Old Puget Sound Beach with a 31-27 away win over division 1 defending champ Glendale.
A noticeably short post on Cal's loss by Jack's personal PR-man...interesting.
A loss of this magnitude could very well be the death knell, or at the very least a sign of the shifting of power, of college rugby's most dominant program over the last 30 years and it got 10 sentences. Amazing Kurt.
Posted by: Kept it short... | 16 April 2012 at 14:50
Really??? This is it??? The fact that Cal leaves the CPD the same year that they lose to Cal Poly and St. Mary's isnt even worthy of its own article? Does Uncle Jack have you on the payroll? The bottom line is Clark wanted nothing to do with BYU, Life, Ark State etc... in the playoffs this year. I think BYU would beat Cal by at least 50 points. Here's to hoping that the "journalist" on this site actually reports on important moments in college rugby in the future.
Posted by: calgoldenbear | 16 April 2012 at 21:54
Congrats to big Dos.
He will do more PR for Rugby in the USA than any other individual or organization.
Now a three sport athlete, successful at two, and about to prove a third.
Go Jets.
Posted by: Skinner | 16 April 2012 at 23:32
Reminder: use real emails. Fakes, bounces, etc = unpublished.
Posted by: kurt oeler | 17 April 2012 at 10:41
Or, you know, they could just be having a bad year or two? Compounded by issues with improved opponents, field availability, varsity status and having title IX garbage.
Posted by: Nick Danger | 17 April 2012 at 17:00
I've thought it nice that the rugby journalists have given so little press space to Cal this year (certainly much less than previous years). I don't hate on Cal or Jack, but I do think that the decision to drop out of CPD received the requisite and karmic response from this rugby nation.
Posted by: Grant Cole | 17 April 2012 at 22:15