The Cal varsity rugby squad played their closest match of the season thus far but never seemed to get rattled in their 27-7 victory over the University of Victoria Vikes.
For the first time this year, the Bears were played tight by their opponent and were forced to control the possessions, play for field position and kick for points when they had the opportunity. In fact, senior Dave Guest put up a team leading 14 points in the game, 12 of them on penalty kicks. "We were putting them under some pressure and the penalty kicks were a byproduct of that pressure," said head coach Jack Clark.
Guest got things started in the third minute of the match by hitting his first penalty kick of the game from 15 meters out to give Cal the lead 3-0. Both sides traded blows for the next fifteen minutes until senior Eric Andersen received a lucky bounce of off a missed pass at Cal's 40 meter line. Andersen picked it up in stride, faked two Vikes defenders and jaunted 60 meters before diving between the pipes for the try, 10-0 Bears. Five minutes later though, a breakdown in Cal's slide defense at the 50 meter line resulted in the Vikes' only try of the day. After missed penalty kicks for both sides, Guest nailed one between the pipes from 22-meters to give Cal the halftime lead, 13-7.
UVIC, near the top of the table in the British Columbia Premier League, looked dangerous at times but couldn't manage any second half points against the "one-man one-tackle" Bears defense.
The second half saw the Bears controlling the game through some stellar defensive play and a backline that made some very sound decisions with the ball. Just four minutes into the second half, Guest converted a penalty kick again from 24 meters out. Two more Guest kicks for points in the next 25 minutes raised the lead to 22-7 Bears. Seemingly out of reach for the Vikes, the game took on a more physical tone. With eight minutes left to play, a Victoria prop received a yellow card for repeated penalties, forcing the Vikes to play the remainder of the game a man down. To the delight of the home crowd, with just five minutes left in regulation Justin Parkhurst took the ball from the lineout and pushed the maul in for the try from 5 meters out. That score put Cal up 27-7 and left the Vikes grasping for breath.
"I know that UVIC is a very good team and they didn't surprise me today," said Clark. "You could see moments of brilliance in them but I think they struggled on the road."
Cal hosts the University of British Columbia on Saturday, February 23, at 1:00 p.m. on Witter Rugby Field in Berkeley.
1st Half 2nd Half Final
Cal 13 14 27
UVIC 7 0 7
Scoring:
3:00 CAL - Guest (penalty kick)
20:00 CAL - Andersen (try) (Guest conversion)
25:00 VIC - (try) (2-pont conversion)
44:00 CAL - Guest (penalty kick)
52:00 CAL - Guest (penalty kick)
68:00 CAL - Guest (penalty kick)
73:00 CAL - Parkhurst (try)
Substitutions: 50th minute, Josh Downes in for John Willenborg, 52nd minute, Andy Armstrong in for Marc Tausend, 72nd minute, Mike Bonetto in for Mark Verlatti, 77th minute, Justin Parkhurst in for Mike MacDonald,
Cal Record: 7-0-0
