March 28, 2007

VANCOUVER - Trailing at halftime for the second straight match against the University of British Columbia on Wednesday, California outscored UBC by 10 points in the second half for an 18-12 win, scoring three tries to the Thunderbirds' four three-pointers, sweeping the series and taking the "World Cup" back to Berkeley for the eighth time in last 11 years.

The Bears struggled to assert themselves physically against UBC, taking the lead with a try by Rikus Pretorius in the 11th minute, though failing to kick not only the conversion, but three makeable first-half penalty attempts as well, all off the foot of freshman fullback Sean Gallinger. Cal offset its offensive struggles by refusing to allow the T-Birds into the try zone, but UBC nevertheless managed to eke out a four-point halftime lead via two penalty kicks and a drop-goal by flyhalf Eric Wilson.

Having struggled to go forward in the first 40 minutes, Cal faced a second-half challenge. Last year, Cal entered the rematch with a six-point cushion only to squander the cup, created by the Vancouver Daily World newspaper in 1921 and awarded based on aggregate point totals, with its 29-15 loss. This year, the Bears came in with a 15-point edge following their 32-17 win at Witter Rugby Field on Feb. 21.

Rather than play a "prevent" type of game to limit a potential loss and take the home-and-home series on points, Cal found the toughness it needed to win the series outright. Scrumhalf Brendan Wright fed flanker Ross Biestman off the blind side of a ruck to give Cal a 10-9 lead at minute 51. The conversion, this time by Chris Gurecki, was again off the mark, but Gurecki later chipped through a penalty from 15 meters after sustained Cal pressure for a 13-9 advantage.

After UBC's Wilson brought the T-Birds back to within one point with another penalty kick five minutes later, Cal's Paul Jesseman was yellow-carded to put the Bears a man down for the final 10 minutes of the match. Despite the disadvantage, the Bears put in the work to preserve their lead, capping their effort when Wright stole the ball from the base of a scrum inside the UBC 22 and the Bears battled through two phases to set up Louis Stanfill for a diving try in the corner, increasing Cal's lead to six with five minutes to play.

The Thunderbirds hammered away in their last-ditch attempt to grab back the lead, but Cal delivered a goal-line stand to prevent UBC from scoring a potential game-winning try as time expired. "As a team, we're pleased to bring the cup back to Berkeley," said Bears head coach Jack Clark. "This competition with UBC is important for us and the people who have gone before us.

"I was disappointed with our performance in the first half," Clark continued. "I didn't think the forwards were able to create much of a platform. With very few exceptions--Rikus Pretorius coming to mind--I don't think the forwards were really up for a tough game, and it was a tough game. Although our skills didn't improve a lot in the second half, I thought our commitment to the hard parts of the game did improve, and in the end it was pretty gutsy to win the game a man down."

The Bears, now 21-1, next visit Meraloma RFC on Friday for a reserve-grade match before returning home to begin preparations for the postseason. With the top seed in the Pacific Region and the national collegiate playoffs, Cal will play the West Region's second seed on Witter Rugby Field as the Bears host pools A and B of the Round of 16 April 20-22.

The Scoring Timeline vs. British Columbia:

07:00 UBC 3

11:00 Rikus Pretorius 5

37:00 UBC 3

40:00 UBC 3

Half Time: British Columbia 9, California 5

51:00 Ross Biestman 5

67:00 Chris Gurecki 3

72:00 UBC 3

75:00 Louis Stanfill 5

Final Score: California 18, British Columbia 12

The Team vs. British Columbia:

15.Gallinger (Gurecki 40:00), 14. Lee, 13. Hawley, 12. Golding 11. Kidd, 10. Brogan ©, 9. Wright, 1. Wilhelmy, 2. Biller, 3. Kroll (J. Barrett @ 60:00), 4. Fry, 5. Cross (Jesseman @ 12:00, Cross @ 22:00, Jesseman @ 69:00), 6. Biestman, 7. Pretorius, 8. Stanfill