VANCOUVER, Canada – Employing an entirely different starting XV than the previous week, the Bears dropped the second leg of the World Cup Series to British Columbia on Sunday at Gerarld McGavin UBC Rugby Centre. As a result, Cal and UBC split the two match series with each team winning at home.
 
"Congratulations to UBC," said head coach Jack Clark. Today was always going to be tough, made tougher probably using a new group of starters. This said, no regrets, the boys on the field will learn from the experience. We had a few good chances to ring the bell, but we weren't polished enough to pull it off."
 
UBC pulled ahead 10-0 in the first eight minutes on a converted try and a penalty kick, but the Bears responded with a penalty kick of their own from senior Ken Kurihara and a try from sophomore Nick Bloom in 14th minute. As a result, Cal's deficit had been cut to two (10-8). The Thunderbirds scored once more before the half and added two more tries in the second to win 31-8.
 
"This is the 99th year of the World Cup and any time we come up to Vancouver to play is a really special opportunity," said senior captain George Salter. The fact that we got to do it with a bunch of young guys is even better because it's about the bigger picture this year."
 
Sophomore flanker Zach Neff also received a start on Sunday after not appearing in the previous match against British Columbia and contributed a full, 80 minutes.
 
"It's a big opportunity for a player who did not play last week to travel to Canada and get the experience against a very experienced UBC team," said Neff. "It was also a privilege to play today because this starting 15 doesn't usually get to play together. Even though we didn't get the result we wanted, there are a lot of takeaways that we can grow from.
 
The Bears will now prepare for the Cal Invitational on Saturday, March 7. On that day, they will welcome some of the nation's top collegiate rugby teams in Saint Mary's, Army, and Navy. SMC and Navy will face off at 1:30 p.m. with a reserve grade prior at 11:00 a.m. Cal will take on Army at 3:30 p.m. with a reserve grade match to follow (approximately 5:00 p.m.). Tickets for the invitational can be purchased here.
 
Scoring Timeline:
 
Cal 8, British Columbia 31
 
2:00 UBC 5, UBC 2
8:00 UBC 3
10:00 Ken Kurihara 3
14:00 Nick Bloom 5
34:00 UBC 5, UBC 2
Halftime Score: Cal 8, British Columbia 17
57:00 UBC (Penalty Try)
69:00 British Columbia 5, UBC 2
 
Starters vs British Columbia
1. Owen Duvall 2. Jack Weigold 3. Lone Toailoa 4. Jake Broekhuizen 5. George Salter 6. Garrett Kay 7. Zach Neff 8. Luke Freeman 9. Jack Gallagher 10. Ken Kurihara 11. Taylor Damron 12. Joe Roeske 13. Kevin Saunders 14. Nick Bloom 15. Alex Brundage
Substitutions:
50:00 Josh Warnock (Toailoa)
60:00 Sebastian Bader, Gavin Janis (Kay, J. Roeske)
67:00 Jack Manzo (Duvall)
73:00 Jacob Tuua-Burch (Freeman)
76:00 Michael Perrone (Weigold)
79:00 Max Clark, Nate Salter (Kurihara, Brundage)