March 19, 2005

BERKELEY - The Cal Rugby team was victorios in the opening round of the California Invitational, defeating the Oregon Ducks 69-29. In the earlier match Midwest champions Ohio State thrashed Ivy League champions Dartmouth 61-7.

The Bears played largely a reserve grade side featuring 9 true freshmen. Varsity Rugby Head Coach, Jack Clark was less than impressed with his young team's performance;" Very ordinary, very bloody ordinary.....clearly we will need to improve tomorrow."

Oregon had 3 interception trys, the first of which was scored in the very first minute of play. The interceptions and another try, from a turnover, kept the match neck and neck, leaving the two teams tied at the half, 17-17. Oregon was well in it, as the Bears would not pull away and lock up the victory until the last 20 minute of the match. Despite the score Cal exercised dominance in the scrum and at the ruck with the forwards contributing some dynamic close quarters work at the fringe.

On Sunday the consolation final kicks off at 12:00pm and will feature Oregon versus Dartmouth. The championship final will kick off at 2:00pm and will pit Ohio State against the Bears.

Scoring Timeline:

1:00 Oregon 5, 2

5:00 Pat Castles 5

9:00 Oregon 3

22:00 Daniel Grinter 5

28:00 Oregon 5, 2

32:00 Connor O'Brien 5, Pat Castles 2

Halftime Cal 17, Oregon 17

41:00 Jason Lee 5, Pat Castles 2

45:00 Oregon 5

49:00 Paul Jesseman 5, Pat Castles 2

52:00 Daniel Grinter 5, Pat Castles 2

55:00 Oregon 5, 2

60:00 Pat Castles 5, 2

66:00 James Sehr 5, Pat Castles 2

68:00 Connor O'Brien 5, Pat Castles 2

72:00 Nick LaBounty 5

78:00 Brendan Wright 5

Final: Cal 69, Oregon 29

The Team:

15. O'Brien, 14. Lee, 13. L. Yancey, (28, Pieracci), 12. Yokubaitis, 11. Kidd, 10. Castles, 9. B. Wright, 1. Barrett, 2. Biller, 3. Kroll, 4. LaBounty, (72, Rinker), 5. Jesseman, 6. Grinter, 7. Sehr ©, 8. Biestman