(Salt Lake City) All-American Seamus Kelly's mid-second half try proved the matchwinner in Cal's tense 21-14 victory over Brigham Young, earning the Bears a perfect season and 26th national title.
BYU's Sosaia ('Hynie') Leaaetoa rammed a tap move through the Bears' goalline defense with 11 minutes remaining, bringing the forward-oriented contest to within seven, but down the stretch the defending champs squelched every challenge. Twice in final minutes, Cal throttled attacking Cougar lineouts, and in injury time nabbed a tighthead.
Flyhalf James Bailes, whose inside dash created the space for Kelly's scoring run toward the left corner, added 11 points on 4 of 6 goalkicking.
Not often are championship matches won on the touchline. Saturday, before possibly the largest non-test crowd in modern American history, the strategy hatched by Cal's Jack Clark and Tom Billups not only induced Cougar errors at the lineout and elsewhere, but also exposed the locals' inability to shift gears. BYU struggled to control its field position and so played long periods without the ball, because often when it did get possession the imperative was to clear its end.
'[Cal's] game plan won through tonight," BYU coach David Smyth acknowledged in an interview with Salt Lake City's Deseret News.
In a much-anticipated matchup of Collegiate Premier unbeatens, the challengers started quickly, running captain and 7s Eagle Ryan Roundy and center Seki Kafe into the line; shunting Cal toward its end; and even winning a scrum against the feed. But there were no points to show for a strong first quarter's work. BYU halfback Shaun Davies left a 35-yard left sideline penalty short, and while Leaaetoa misplayed a potential 3-on-1.
Bailes also missed a three-pointer, but the chance portended change of momentum. At 23 minutes, Cal flanker Derek Asbun carried a lineout maul into the tryzone for the opening score, converted by Bailes.
Just before half, an offensive flurry broke out. First Bailes stroked a midrange shot, following a period when BYU could not escape its end. Then Cougar flyhalf Dylan Lubbe chipped ahead down his left sideline, forcing the cover defense into a rushed clearance and leading to BYU flanker Apenisa Malani's 38th minute try.
BYU did a poor job fielding the resulting kickoff, however, yielding Cal an attacking lineout that led to a second Bailes penalty. The sequence not only cost three points but also denied the Cougars halftime momentum.
The storyline changed little in the second period. It's not merely that Cal dominated possession while minimizing BYU's chances to exploit turnovers, but also that BYU couldn't force the Bears to change tactics, to play differently.
A more wide-open contest would have brought knowledgeable, vocal fans into the mix. The Cougars counter-rucked diligently, led by all-star prop Mikey Su'a; but with five, six or even seven Bear forwards on hand, the ball unfailingly came back and the partisans had little to cheer.
Bailes stroked a third penalty at 50 minutes, after the Cougars had spent a long period defending their end, to make the count 16-7.
Despite all to Cal's liking, the contest might have shifted right before the start of the fourth quarter. At last BYU edged upfield, and dangerous ballcarriers like lock Viliami Vimahi found space in the backline. But thrice the challengers spilled the ball in attack. Cal halfback Connor Ring's 60-yard bolt from a turnover ruck punctured the sequence and led to Kelly's 61st-minute touchdown.
Leaaetoa's try create a last burst of suspense. Though the Bears lead the head-to-head series 6-1, BYU-Cal more often than not produces hard matches rather different from one-sided scorelines that typified this season's College Premier Division. 'I really do believe that if [BYU] would have had those lineout balls, it would have been a different story,' Clark told the Deseret News.
In steamy Atlanta, San Francisco Golden Gate opened a 17-9 halftime lead over Life University behind tries from Samu Manoa and Folau Moleloa, en route to 20-15 Super League championship.
Flyhalf Volney Rouse, who booted the winning score in the Golden Gate's 2009 finals victory over the Running Eagles, added 10 points via 2 conversions and a pair of penalties. Life fullback Aaron McMaster accounted for all of his side's scoring with 5 penalty goals.
For Paul Keeler's troops, the win marks a third consecutive playoff triumph over Life, twice in the championship match.
Combined with Jesuit's 50-27 win over Xavier in the schoolboy final, the Cal and SFGG triumphs produced Northern California's sweep of 2011's foremost competitions: high school, College Premier, and Super League.
In London, the Eagles upset Argentina 22-21 but then dropped 3 straight games at the England 7s tournament. The Matt Hawkins-led squad wraps up the Sevens World Series season this weekend in Scotland.
Univ. of California 21 Brigham Young Univ. 14 (halftime: Cal 13-7)
California
Tries: Derek Asbun, Seamus Kelly
Conversions: James Bailes
Penalties: James Bailes (3)
Blaine Scully; Dustin Muhn, Seamus Kelly, Sean Gallinger, James McTurk; James Bailes, Connor Ring (Paul Bosco); Jeremy Deterding (Tanner Mohr), Neill Barrett, James Besser, Drew Hyjer, Derek Asbun (captain, Jason Law), Thomas Rooke, Danny Barrett
Brigham Young
Tries: Apenisa Malani, Sosaia Leaaetoa
Conversions: Shaun Davies (2)
Andrew Harrison; Joseph Nicholls, Seki Kafe, Jared Whippy, Zeke Mendenhall; Dylan Lubbe, Shaun Davies; Mikey Su'a, Ishmael Tilialo, Ray Forrester, Mark Bonham, Viliami Vimahi, Apenisa Malani, Sosaia Leaaetoa, Ryan Roundy (captain)
Referee: Gareth Morgan (South and United States)
Attendance: 9,100 (estimated)
They read over the loudspeaker that there were about 10,500 in attendance. Whatever it was, it was a pretty amazing atmosphere. Felt like a BYU football game. Crowd was really buzzing. Kudos to USAR for a great event.
Posted by: Big Crowd | 23 May 2011 at 16:57
Actually, kudos to BYU staff that appeared on every talk show, every television station, in the local newspapers...anywhere there was a venue they talked it up. USAR's promotion was limited to a single press release by Jarrod Beckstrom. If USAR had actually promoted the match it could have drawn, what, 15,000 and maybe more.
As it was it was a wonderful event, but giving the credit to USAR is not aligned with the facts. They came in to collect the money. There was no way to buy advance tickets (the event wasn't visible anywhere but the USARugby.org Website, and certainly not on the Rio Tinto Stadium calendar of events) until a week before the event. There was no advance publicity of any kind until a couple of days before the event. USAR didn't award the event to a local organization as it did to all the other championships (ala Stanford), so there wasn't even a firm reservation for fields to play on for the U-19 championships until the week before the tournament. What a fire drill that was, getting a place to play at the last minute!
It was a great game and a great crowd, but USAR simply isn't entitled to the credit.
Posted by: Great event, but not due to USAR | 24 May 2011 at 00:05
The U-19 and High school pool-play games were moved due to the heavy rains that occurred for several days prior to the event.
Posted by: kevin | 24 May 2011 at 08:21
Yes, they were moved, but up until the week before the final, they was no reservation at Murray park, since the proper paperwork wasn't filled out by USAR. This is just an example of the importance USAR gives to this part of their job. Repeated emails requesting their attention to this problem went unanswered. In the end, the matches were held elsewhere, but that doesn't excuse the lack of groundwork by USAR.
Posted by: Great event, but not due to USAR | 24 May 2011 at 08:45
How about some love for Davenport University which in their third season won the college crown from the frequently forgotten by USA Rugby Midwest.
Posted by: MidwestUprising | 05 June 2011 at 06:59