BERKELEY – Cal rugby defeated Santa Clara 79-3 on a beautiful day in Strawberry Canyon, the Bears' first match of the XVs season on their home turf of Witter Rugby Field.
 
"We appreciate having an annual match with Santa Clara," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "They are top men, always have been."
 
Cal played a mostly-underclassmen squad, with seven freshmen and six sophomores in the starting 15-man lineup. The team scored 13 tries by 10 different players, including two apiece by Joe Kirsten, Max Threlkeld, J.P. Vinter and Dom Paga.
 
The Bears collected their first score of the match when Vinter pushed his way across the try-line a minute-and-a-half in. Cal put another try on the scoresheet ten minutes later when Kirsten ran a score into the tryzone, and Oliver Newall added another three minutes later.
 
The Broncos had a successful penalty kick in the 19th minute, which would be their only points of the day. Tries by Dougie Brown, Threlkeld and Kirsten and five successful conversions by Kealan O'Connell made the score 40-3 at the intermission.
 
Cal successfully shutout Santa Clara for the entirety of the second half and logged another seven tries. Threlkeld ran his second score in just one minute into the second half and Kirsten followed suit with his second try of the day seven minutes later. Forwards Josh Mao and Vinter pushed their ways past the Broncos to add two more tries in the 48th and 55th minutes, respectively.
 
Santa Clara battled for possession, but the Bears held them off and made way for Michael Freeman to touch down in the tryzone in minute 60. Paga then had back-to-back tries, first with a big breakaway run in minute 62 before he pushed his way in again from a maul in minute 70. Michal De Beer capped off the scoring for the Bears with a try, his first score as a Golden Bear in his debut match. O'Connell converted two of the scores in the second half, making his record for the day 7-for-8 and lifting the final score to 79-3.
 
The Bears now hit the road for a contest with UCSB next Saturday, Jan. 28th. Fans can follow along via score updates on the Cal Varsity Rugby twitter page.
 
Scoring Timeline
 
Cal vs Santa Clara
1:00 – Vinter 5, O'Connell 2
13:00 – Kirsten 5, O'Connell 2
16:00 – Newall 5
19:00 – Santa Clara, 3
26:00 – Brown 5, O'Connell 2
29:00 – Threlkeld 5, O'Connell 2
37:00 – Kirsten 5, O'Connell 2
Half: 40-3
41:00 – Threlkeld 5, O'Connell 2
48:00 – Mao 5, O'Connell 2
55:00 – Vinter 5
60:00 – M. Freeman 5
62:00 – Paga 5
70:00 – Paga 5
78:00 – De Beer 5
Final: 79-3
 
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