Feb. 7, 2004

BERKELEY, Calif. - In its home opener the California varsity rugby team shut out local rival UC Davis, 23-0, in a scrappy and hard-fought match Saturday at Witter Field.

The Golden Bears improved their record to 4-0.

It was all Cal in the first 10 minutes as the Golden Bears launched attack after attack deep in the Aggies' half, finally being rewarded for their hard graft with a try by freshman flanker Joe Welch. Welch took a pass standing out in the back line and eluded a couple of UCD defenders to touch down the Bears' first score.

The remainder of the half had both teams mounting attacks met with equally tenacious defense. Cal in particular just missed out on several try-scoring opportunities and led 5-0 at halftime.

The second half started with much of the same thrust. However, just eight minutes after the intermission, a UC Davis player was given a yellow card by the referee for dangerous play and was sent to the sin bin to cool off for 10 minutes. The varsity pressed its advantage home with freshman Louis Stanfill touching down from the back of a driving lineout thre minutes later.

Shortly thereafter, the referee awarded a penalty to Cal due to continued UC Davis infringements. The Bears' Andrew Blair knocked the penalty over the cross bar for the easy three points.

Welch touched down his second off a driving lineout, and Michael MacDonald scored the Bears' last try, the result of some heads up play. Andrew Johnson took a quick tap and distributed to Welch, who fed MacDonald out wide in space, leaving the final score 23-0.

Head varsity rugby coach Jack Clark felt the match lacked structure.

"The match had very little shape to it," he said. "The tackle and ruck piece was a complete free for all, which created sloppy possession for both sides. However with that said, I reckon that a shut out is not all bad."

The Bears will host the Chico State Wildcats this Friday, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m.

The Scoring:

Tries: Welch (2) Stanfill, MacDonald

Cons:

Pens: Blair

The Team: 15. Blair, 14. Pieracci, 13. Weedon, 12. Donnelly, 11. Hanks, (Brogan 42-50), 10. Khasigian, (Gurecki, 30), 9. Johnson, 8. Lindsey, 7. Welch, 6. Stanfill, 5. Garamendi, 4. Tausend, 3. MacDonald (Captain), (Walker, 84), 2. Vontz, 1. McClenahan, (Dorsti, 65)

The Cal reserve XV defeated UC Davis' seconds, 46-20.