LOS ANGELES – California rugby claimed a road win over UCLA on Saturday afternoon with the Golden Bears routing the Bruins 66-12 at Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles. The Bears now improve to 6-0 on the season.
 
Cal struck first in the contest when senior Pat Deely pick-and-jammed his way past the goal line to give the Bears an advantage they would never relinquish. Junior Kealan O'Connell added the extras, his first successful conversion en route to a perfect day of kicking.
 
On the Bears' next scoring possession, senior co-captain Will Shankland timed an offload to a supporting sophomore Max Threlkeld who carried the ball into the tryzone. After the restart, Cal was pushed back into its own territory, but went to work down the field and eventually put the ball in sophomore Rand Santos's hands, who beat a couple defenders before touching down a score.  
 
Cal was quick to score again after the restart when senior Caleb Tomasin caught the kickoff and immediately went on the attack. Shankland got possession and spotted a gap in the Bruins' defense before taking off with a breakaway run from the 40-meter line all the way into the tryzone.
 
Cal dominated the scrum all afternoon and was awarded a penalty that allowed O'Connell to add a penalty kick to the scoresheet. O'Connell also went 4-for-4 on conversions in the first half to make it 31-0 in favor of the Bears at the intermission.
 
The Bears only needed 30 seconds after the start of the second half to light up the scoreboard again when Shankland found a gap and ran it down the field before offloading to senior Evan Weigold who carried the ball in. Four minutes later, Brett Dowgiewicz caught the ball at the back of a UCLA attacking lineout and took it straight to the tryzone for another Bear try.
 
UCLA managed to put a converted try on the scoresheet next, but Cal answered shortly after, swinging the ball out to Weigold on the left wing for a score. The Bruins won the next restart and snuck their way in the far corner for their second and final try of the day, but failed to convert the score.
 
Three minutes later, Cal was back on the attack and moved the ball through several sets of hands with precision passing before sending it across in the arms of sophomore Solomon Williams. Junior Joe Kirsten came off the bench and, on his first touch, made an impact, chipping the ball forward and beating the UCLA defenders to recover it and run it in for a try. O'Connell added the extras on all of Cal's scores to go 8-for-8 on conversion kicks.
 
"We appreciate UCLA rugby and the match they gave us," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "They're a tough bunch."
 
In the reserve-grade match that followed, Cal beat UCLA 53-12.
 
Cal now returns home for its next contest, with the Bears set to take on BYU at Witter Rugby Field on Feb. 10. The match will be aired live on Pac-12 Bay Area, with kickoff set for Noon in Strawberry Canyon.
 
Scoring Timeline:
6:00 – Pat Deely 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
18:00 – Max Threlkeld 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
25:00 – Rand Santos 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
27:00 – Will Shankland 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
40:00 – Kealan O'Connell 3
Half: Cal 31, UCLA 0
41:00 – Evan Weigold 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
49:00 – Brett Dowgiewicz 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
53:00 – UCLA 5, UCLA 2
59:00 – Evan Weigold 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
61:00 – UCLA 5
64:00 – Solomon Williams 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
68:00 – Joe Kirsten 5, Kealan O'Connell 2
Final: Cal 66, UCLA 12
 
Starting XV:
1. Emilio Shea 2. Cade Crist 3. Charlie Walsh 4. Pat Deely 5. Tom Dixon 6. Hugo Schreuder 7. Jon Puckett 8. Dom Paga 9. Solomon Williams 10. Rand Santos 11. Evan Weigold 12. Max Threlkeld 13. Will Shankland 14. Caleb Tomasin 15. Kealan O'Connell
 
Substitutions:
Brett Dowgiewicz (25:00), Mack Fell (49:00), Bryan Bogne (55:00), Ryan Marshall (55:00), Clayton Seastrand (61:00), Joe Kirsten (67:00), Jafer Snipes (77:00), Matt Vranesh (77:00)
 
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