March 27, 2004

Vancouver, B.C. - The University of British Columbia, in first place in the Vancouver First Division, defeated the Golden Bears today, 26-17, in Canada. It is the second time the two North American rugby powerhouses have met this season, with UBC winning the first match in Berkeley back in February. The two teams compete for the "World Cup," the trophy donated by the World Newspaper Vancouver in the first half of the century. The cup must now return to Vancouver as it has resided in Berkeley for six of the last seven years.

The day's events began with a ceremonial kick off by members of the 1947 UBC rugby team. Wearing their lettermen's sweaters, the kick was received by Cal varsity captain Mike MacDonald, and both sides converged for a handshake. Subsequent kickoffs were not as cordial.

Both sides came away with two tries apiece, but UBC added four penalties to its scoreline. The match was very physical with ferocious contests at every breakdown. Cal was led by the play of MacDonald, a senior All-American who scored one of Cal's two tries, and freshman standout Louis Stanfill. Ryan Donnelley scored the Bears' other try.

Just five minutes into the match, UBC slotted its first penalty to go ahead by three. Andrew Blair had a chance to equalize seven minutes later, but the attempt went wide. Halfway through the first half, Cal mishandled a stolen lineout, and UBC recovered the ball and went over for its first try. The conversion was good. Ten minutes before the break, Blair kicked Cal's first penalty to leave the score 10-3 at halftime.

UBC opened the second half with another three points after Cal was penalized for offsides. Cal struck back when All-American Joel DiGiorgio took a quick tap that gave MacDonald the ball with a full head of steam and a few yards to the try line. Blair made the conversion, bringing the score to 13-10.

The Thunderbirds answered back with a converted try and another penalty. The try came from a UBC scrum move on the Cal 22. The Bears raised their intensity up a notch as Ryan Donnelly scored between the posts off another quickly taken penalty, putting the Bears within a converted try of victory with three minutes to play. But it was not to be, with the match ending on a UBC penalty kick resulting in a final scoreline of UBC 26, Cal 17.

In his post-match comments, Cal coach Jack Clark said, "We had our chances today, but in the end UBC were deserving victors. I'm certainly disappointed to hand over the cup, but what a fantastic tradition. We could build one hell of a team playing the Thunderbirds week in and week out."

The Team:

15. Blair, 14. Hanks, 13. Weedon, 12. Donnelly, 11. Hanks, 10. Khasigian, 9. DiGiorgio, 8. Burruell, (Sehr, 68), 7. Welch, (Wallace, 55), 6. Stanfill, 5. Garamendi, (Boggs, 50), 4. Tausend, 3. MacDonald, (Captain) 2. Vontz, 1. McClenahan, (Walker, 70)

The Scoring:

Trys: MacDonald, Donnelly

Cons: Blair (2)

Pens: Blair

The UBC second team defeated the Cal reserve grade, 29-7.