March 4, 2006

BERKELEY - A capacity crowd at Witter Rugby Field on Saturday witnessed the Cal Varsity XV overcome a halftime deficit to defeat the Super League champion New York Athletic Club by the score of 33-27. The Bears held off a late charge from Winged Foot to emerge victorious in a battle between two champions that left both teams appreciative of the challenge and American rugby all the better for it.

"It was a great opportunity for us and we were honored to play against them," said Cal's match-day captain and #8 Andrew Lindsey. "I think we'll come out better after this game from the toughness that they brought to us."

Pundits and fans who believed that NYAC would physically dominate the Bears may have been surprised to see Cal stand up to the older and more experienced players from the East Coast. But after the collegians stole the first scrum and first two lineouts that NYAC was supposed to control, it was clear that the students from Berkeley were playing not just to compete, but to win.

Things didn't start off too promising for the Bears when flyhalf Rob Weedon missed a normally automatic penalty kick from 28 meters in the third minute. It may have been butterflies in the Bears' feet that stunted Cal's kicking game for much of the afternoon, putting extra pressure on the Bears to tackle Winged Foot ball-carriers when their kicks for touch remained inbounds.

Weedon redeemed his sub-par kicking with an even-keeled performance as a running and passing playmaker, delivering a switch-pass to inside center Ryan Donnelly 10 minutes later that caught NYAC wrong-footed and resulted in a try for the Bears. The score came following successive lineouts that Cal pulled down cleanly to deliver to its backs.

Despite their ability to match NYAC's intensity, the Bears found themselves losing after Winged Foot kicked a penalty and scored a try to make it 10-7. Cal's determination to play physically with the visitors began to take its toll as wing Connor O'Brien re-injured his hamstring and was replaced by Jason Lee. Another missed penalty kick by Weedon failed to even the score before halftime.

With the crowd buzzing in anticipation of which team would control the match after the two teams switched sides, Cal came out and turned NYAC's own kicking game against it to grab back the lead in the 45th minute. Scrumhalf Brendan Wright blocked a kick and flanker Joe Welch pounced on the ball in the try zone to give the Bears a 12-10 advantage.

Many assumed that NYAC would answer right away, yet Cal took the ensuing kickoff and immediately marched back to paydirt. Freshman Eric Fry received the restart and fed Weedon, who moved the ball along to Chase Brogan. The outside center left a pass for David Poettcker, who filled a gap from fullback and dove into the zone for a try.

Wright was forced to exit the contest at minute 49 with a shoulder knock, but replacement Zak Triplett didn't miss a beat at scrumhalf. Four minutes into his appearance, the transfer from Aberdeen, Scotland, followed a rumble by the freshmen tandem of Fry and Julian Snellgrove, continued the phase by finding Cyrus Dorosti and David Poettcker, and "Potts" found winger Scott Kidd for a try in the left corner. Triplett made a difficult conversion kick to make it a 26-15 game.

With 10 minutes remaining in regulation time, both sides were picking themselves up off the deck determined to finish strong. When Lee snagged an interception, raced from midfield and dove over for a score between the posts, the Cal faithful began to celebrate.

But NYAC refused to go quietly. As the match entered injury time, Winged Foot notched two quick tries to pull within six, at 33-27. Only the referee's whistle to end the contest prevented NYAC from making a final charge to retake the lead.

NYAC captain Chris Mayo left the pitch satisfied that his team had left it all on the field. "I'm not taking anything away from the Cal guys," he said. "They really gave it to us and deserved their win."

Added Winged Foot head coach Mike Tolkin, "People have said that maybe a college team has nothing to lose and we had everything to lose, but a long time ago I said I don't see it that way at all. It did a lot for us to play this match. This was great for rugby and a great opportunity for us."

Cal head coach Jack Clark reminded his team that today's match was a stepping stone toward goals that persist into spring. The 12-0 Bears defend the Scum Axe next Saturday at Stanford.

The Scoring Timeline vs. NYAC:

14:00 Ryan Donnelly 5, Rob Weedon 2

23:00 NYAC 3

28:00 NYAC 5, 2

Half Time: NYAC 10, California 7

45:00 Joe Welch 5

46:00 David Poettcker 5, Rob Weedon 2

53:00 NYAC 5

54:00 Scott Kidd 5, Rob Weedon 2

75:00 Jason Lee 5, Rob Weedon 2

81:00 NYAC 5

83:00 NYAC 5

Final Score: California 33, NYAC 27

Referee: Kevin McCaslin

The Team vs. New York Athletic Club:

15. Poettcker, 14. O'Brien (Lee @ 34:00), 13. Brogan, 12. Donnelly, 11. Kidd, 10. Weedon, 9. Wright (Triplett @ 49:00), 1. Dorosti, 2. Biller, 3. Kroll, 4. Snellgrove, 5. L. Stanfill (J. Stanfill @ 55:00), 6. Fry (L. Stanfill @ 55:00), 7. Welch, 8. Lindsey ©