BERKELEY – Two more recruits are set to join California rugby this spring as Lance Hackett and Mack Fell have been added to the roster. Find the full recruiting class here.
 
"I am really grateful to have these last two young men join the incoming class," head coach Jack Clark said. They are both good students with good potential on the rugby field. Importantly, they are both high-character individuals."
 

Lance Hackett
 
Lance Hackett is a 5-10, 210-pound flanker from Clayton, Calif and joins recent recruits Matt Vranesh and Clayton Seastrand as a recent graduate of De La Salle High School. The U.S. passport holder has played the last two seasons on the De La Salle varsity rugby team, leading his squad to a Division II Championship in 2019 and a Single School State Championship in 2020. He also attended the Cal Rugby Summer Camp in 2019.
 
Hackett competed on the Spartans' varsity football team his sophomore through senior years. As a starting middle linebacker, he helped his team win three consecutive league championships and to a runner-up finish in the Open Division State Championship all three years as well. He finished his senior season with the second-most tackles and interceptions. A three-sport athlete in high school, Hackett was also a prominent De La Salle wrestler. Spending all four years on varsity, he led his team to four league and North Coast Section (NCS) championships. As an individual, he was crowned league champion in each of his last two seasons and finished as the NCS runner up in 2020. He went on to finish in the top 12 at the state meet that season.
 
In the classroom, Lance earned NCS CIF Scholar Athlete recognitions in 2017 and 2018. Furthermore, he received a Foreign Language Merit Award for American Sign Language (ASL) in 2020.
 
Lance's father (Jonathon) is a Contra Costa Water Department Laboratory Technician. His mother (Nicole) is a retail nursery and pool supply business owner and a landscape designer. Meanwhile, Lance's older brother (Jonathon Hackett Jr.) is currently in his fourth year at Saint Mary's and competes on the Gaels' rugby team.
 
"I am excited to play and compete with the best rugby program in the nation," Hackett said. "I am ready to be pushed every day by amazing coaches and hardworking teammates who strive for victory in everything they do. I am excited to receive a world-class education and to build bonds with brothers for life."
 

Mack Fell
 
Mack Fell is a 6-foot, 212-pound flyhalf from Sydney, Australia. In 2020, the Australia and UK passport holder was the captain of his Newington College rugby team, received the Alan Thorpe Trophy for First XVs Best and Fairest and received his Colours – a recognition given to starters who demonstrated good character and leadership qualities. In 2018, he was chosen to compete for the U16 Greater Public Schools team, the U16 New South Wales (NSW) Junior Rugby Club (where he was named co-captain), and the NSW All Schools First Team. He led both the All Schools and Greater Public Schools teams to their respective tournament victories. Furthermore, in 2017, Fell led both his Junior Gold Cup team and Eastern Suburbs Representative team to a state championship.
 
Mack was a three-sport athlete in high school, also competing in track & field and basketball. As a shot putter, he came in second place in his final year at the regional carnival and was a teammate of current Cal men's basketball player Grant Anticevich. Fell was also a starter and team captain of the Newington College basketball team where he averaged more than 10 rebounds per game in his final season. Outside of sports, Fell also competed for three years on the school's top debate team.
 
Fell is also strong academically, having received the Academic Merit award each of the last three years for finishing in the top-10 of his class. He also received the ONU Hermitage Divinity Prize for a Philosophy Essay written in 2019.
 
Mack's mother (Philippa "Pip") and father (Gordon) both work as company directors. Gordon has a Bachelor's of Science and a Law degree from Sydney University and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford. He played rugby at both Sydney and Oxford. Pip has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Charles Sturt University and spent a year on exchange at Oregon State. Mack's grandfather, Emeritus Professor Chris Fell, served as a visiting professor at UC Berkeley for eight months in 1979 in the department of Chemical Engineering. He was the Dean of Chemical Engineering at University of New South Wales.

Newington College is also the school of former Cal rugby legend Sitiveni "Steve" Finau '74.
 
"The Cal program is one of the most professional and well-managed university rugby programs in the world," Fell said. "The team has a distinguished record of winning, which inevitably breeds a culture of excellence, an environment that makes everybody within it better. The combination of that culture, the exceptional facilities, the diverse group of players and the guidance of expert coaches headed by Coach Clark make Cal the perfect place to develop as a person and player."