March 12, 2005

DAVIS - In the report below you will not find any of the following names: McClenahan, Vontz, Dorosti, Stanfill, Welch, Pretorius, Lindsey, DiGiorgio, Weedon, Donnelly, Hanks and Blair as they were given the day off. The Bear's line-up for today's match was mostly a reserve grade side, consisting of 10 underclassmen; 6 true freshman and 4 sophomores.

It was a hot and sunny 80 plus degrees in the Capital Corridor as the Cal Rugby team, now 14-0, defeated UC rivals, the Davis Aggies, 34-0. Freshman front rower, Chris Biller, scored a brace of tries to lead the team, while fellow first year Connor O'Brien touched down once. Rounding out the scoring with a try apiece were sophomores James Sehr, Ryan Miller, and Chris Gurecki, who also kicked a penalty and three conversions.

The Bear's dominated possession of the ball as well as field position spending the majority of time deep in opposition territory. Both the forwards and the backs were unlucky to not convert more of that pressure into points. Two collapsed drives at the line of touch and a couple of poorly timed passes let four tries slip away.

The try of the match was Ryan Miller's, at the beginning of the second half. From a line out on the right hand side of the field, the Cal forwards won a clean ball and played it quickly. Pat Castle's threw a miss pass that sent Chris Gurecki through the gap. Gurecki found freshman Connor O'Brien out wide, but O'Brien could not break free and was tackled near the opposite touch line. From the ensuing ruck the attack reversed direction and some slick handling gave Ryan Miller the ball with nothing but daylight in front of him. Miller's try was converted by Gurecki.

Cal Varsity Rugby Assistant Coach, Tom Billups comments on the teams performance; "Generally I was pleased with the result, as we ran out a very young team today. It was an important match for many of our young players, and I was pleased that they did not concede any points."

Next weekend is the Cal Invitational Tournament. On Saturday, Ohio State, the Midwest champions, match up against the Ivy League Champions, Dartmouth, kick off at 12:00pm. In the other bracket Cal takes on the Pacific Northwest qualifier, Oregon, at 2:00pm. On Sunday the Consolation final is at 12:00pm and the Championship kicks off at 2:00pm.

The Scoring Timeline:

17.0 Chris Gurecki 3

29.0 James Sehr 5, Chris Gurecki 2

Half Time: Cal 10, UC Davis 0

48.00 Ryan Miller 5, Chris Gurecki 2

61.0 Chris Biller 5, Chris Gurecki 2

66.0 Chris Biller 5,

71.0 Connor O'Brien 5,

Final Score: Cal 34, UC Davis 0.

The Team:

15. O'Brien, 14. Miller, 13. Gurecki, 12. Yokubaitis, 11. Kidd, 10. Castles, 9. B. Wright, 1. Barrett, 2. Biller, 3. Kroll, 4. Walker,(LaBounty, 75), 5. Jones, 6. Grinter, 7. Sehr ©, 8. Biestman

In the second match of the afternoon Cal defeated UC Davis 79-0.