April 1, 2006

BERKELEY - The Golden Bears rebounded from a tough Spring Break road trip with 31 unanswered points to start the match en route to a 28-point victory over the Wildcats from Chico State at Witter Rugby Field on Saturday.

Although the Wildcats found some soft spots in the midfield and wrestled some momentum into their favor with strong finishes to both halves, Cal's attention to better tackling and improved discipline around the ball complemented its prowess on offense to create a victory in the Bears' final regular-season home game of the year.

Senior outside center Chase Brogan and sophomore wing Connor O'Brien each scored two tries for the Bears. Senior flyhalf Rob Weedon scored a try, kicked a penalty and went 6-for-7 on conversion kicks, missing one tough attempt from the right corner.

Junior Joe Welch, back on the field in his less-familiar position of hooker to replace late scratch Chris Biller, added a try in the 77th minute to ensure that the Bears showed up in the scoring column's later stages.

"It was great to back out there, but it felt like our intensity lacked on defense," said Welch. "We need to work on that if we want to move forward to the postseason and play our best."

Of his switch in recent weeks from flanker to hooker, Welch said, "It's a little different, but I'm getting used to it and I enjoy it. Anything I can do to help the team and get out there on the field."

Big boots needed to be filled today not just in the front row in Biller's absence, but also at inside center, where All-American Ryan Donnelly has been sidelined for injury indefinitely and replaced by a less-experienced sophomore, Cody Stevens. Stevens' opposite number happened to be one of the fiercer runners for the Wildcats on Saturday, leading to several large advances and a couple of tries by Chico State.

Cal has focused on better finishes after yielding too many late-game points in recent weeks, and though Chico State found the try zone in the latter stages of both halves, the students from Berkeley were able to bear down to thwart many Wildcat attacks as the match wore on.

"We knew they'd be big and physical, so we just had to buckle down and put our shoulders on them," said Scott Kidd, who was frequently tested with kick-and-chase tactics that forced the sophomore winger to hustle back to protect Cal's backfield.

Staying physically and mentally prepared in the waning minutes of the match appears to be a top priority for the Bears. "We know that we need to work on staying fit and putting our minds to going the whole 80 minutes," Kidd said.

As the postseason approaches, both the students and coaching staff are striving to coalesce a superior team on the field together with a unit of reserves that can step in and be effective at a moment's notice. Senior scrumhalf Andrew Johnson played an active game against Chico State, making the picture still murkier for the Bears at #9, where Johnson, Zak Triplett and the soon-to-return Brendan Wright have all made a case for playing time.

Chico State coach Mitch Jagoe credited his team for finding some effective moments against the Bears. "The last 20 minutes of each half, we played really good rugby," he said. "Cal came out and caught us off-guard in our backs, kept it tight and crashed hard. But overall our guys showed a lot of character to come back and make a game of it."

In the reserve-grade match following the first XV, Cal defeated Chico State by a score of 76-14.

The Wildcats will travel to BYU for the Pacific Coast playoffs next weekend in an effort to secure the second Pacific seed. Doing so would give Chico State the right to play the second Western seed in Pool B of the National Collegiate Championship Regional at Cal on April 21.

The Golden Bears take on the San Francisco Golden Gate Under-23s next Saturday at 1 p.m. on Treasure Island. A two-week break then follows before the Bears start their postseason play in Pool A of the regional round at home on Saturday, April 22. The winners of the eight-team field of Pools A and B will combine with Pool C and D winners from West Point to form the Final Four at Stanford on May 5, followed by the championship game at Palo Alto on May 6.

The Scoring Timeline vs. Chico State:

04:00 Chase Brogan 5, Rob Weedon 2

09:00 Rob Weedon 3

10:00 Connor O'Brien 5, Rob Weedon 2

19:00 Chase Brogan 5, Rob Weedon 2

27:00 Rob Weedon 5, 2

34:00 Chico State 5

39:00 Chico State 5

Half Time: California 31, Chico State 10

47:00 Connor O'Brien 5

50:00 Ross Biestman 5, Rob Weedon 2

56:00 Chico State 5, 2

77:00 Joe Welch 5, Rob Weedon 2

80:00 Chico State 5

Final Score: California 50, Chico State 22

The Team vs. Chico State:

15. Gurecki (Poettcker @ 25:00), 14. O'Brien, 13. Brogan, 12. Stevens, 11. Kidd, 10. Weedon, 9. Johnson, 1. Barrett, 2. Welch, 3. Dorosti, 4. Snellgrove, 5. L Stanfill, 6. Biestman (T Smith @ 15:00), 7. Pretorius, 8. Lindsey © (Biestman @ 15:00)