TUCSON, Ariz. - California rugby won a thriller against Arizona Saturday at David Sitton Field, a 57-51 victory in their first wire-to-wire match of the season.
 
The Wildcats struck first, finding a gap on the outside, sneaking in past the Cal defense after a couple missed tackles. The Bears answered, as the forwards pushed across the goal line, giving Alex Vieira the Bears first try of the game in the ninth minute.
 
Arizona continued to charge forward, finding gaps in the Bears defense, scoring the next two tries and converting a penalty kick after a dropped ball from fullback Oliver Newall led to an Arizona scrum. The Arizona kicking game proved effective, pinning multiple balls deep into Bear territory. All of a sudden, 22 minutes into the game, the Bears found themselves in an early 20-7 deficit after some untimely penalties, missed tackles, and multiple turnovers.
 
But, the Bears' resilience came through later in the half. They worked the ball down into Arizona territory and a quick attack from freshman wing Gur Levy helped the Bears score their first try in almost 20 minutes of action.
 
The Bears won their first penalty of the day 29 minutes in, and pinned Arizona deep with a kick inside the 22 meter line, setting up a lineout. The Bears drove the lineout before releasing the ball to center Filip Edstrom. Edstrom took a hard hit, but just got a pass off to captain Rand Santos, who punched in a try. Edstrom added the conversion, putting Cal back in front, 24-20 heading into the break.
 
It was a difficult first half for the Bears who struggled with the referee, turnovers, and missed tackles. The Bears responded with a jolt of energy to open the second half. Strong physical play from the forwards pushed Arizona back inside the 22 meter line. Solomon Williams found Byron Finley, who scored the first try of the second half in front of the post to put Cal up 31-20.
 
There was still fight left in the Wildcats, who refused to settle with their first half performance. The 'Cats scored a try three minutes later to cut the deficit to four. The Bears then answered with a shifty run from fullback Newall, who passed the ball to Finley, who went spiraling over the goal line to extend the Bears advantage, 38-27.
 
The back-and-forth contest continued, with neither team gaining an edge. A second try from Santos extended the Bears lead to 43-34, but Arizona answered again, by the work of hooker Harry Langrish, cutting the lead to 43-39. Yet, the Bears answered as a run from Chris Biller set up Edstrom who scored the try and banked in the conversion off the upright to put Cal up 50-39 with 10 minutes to play.
 
With five minutes left, after another Cal penalty, the referee went to his pocket giving Santos a yellow card, forcing Cal to play a man down for the remainder of the contest. Arizona capitalized, breaking a couple tackles and scoring a try and conversion to cut the Cal lead to four. The Bears responded again, scoring after a strong run from Oliver Sinclair set up a try from Brice Muller with just under two minutes left. Arizona scored one final try a minute later, now trailing by six.
 
The Cal defense held strong on the final possession. They pushed the Wildcats back in the scrum, and forced a forward pass, ending the game.
 
The Bears survived the thriller despite 17 penalties called against them, and playing the final five minutes a man down.
 
After the game, captain Rand Santos shared his disappointment with the team's performance.
 
"Give credit to Arizona," Santos said. "We were able to get the job done, but I'm a little frustrated about how we performed. Allowing 50 points is not our standard."
 
Vice captain Cade Crist offered his view of what the team can improve on for their upcoming game.
 
"It's always good to win, no matter what the score is," Crist said. "As far as the result, we wanted a little more out of that game, we'll have a chance to look at video tomorrow and improve ahead of GCU and BYU next week."
 
"Taking nothing away from Arizona's strong performance, it looked like we were on fumes," head coach Jack Clark remarked. "Way too many careless turnovers coupled with some poor tackling."
 
Next up, Cal continues their Arizona road trip facing Grand Canyon University on Monday at 12 p.m. MST.
 
In the reserve match, the Cal reserves defeated the Arizona reserves 83-19.
 
Scoring Timeline:
Cal at Arizona
3:00  –  Nick Morgan, 5 (AZ)
9:00 – Alex Vieira, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
12:00 – Nick Morgan, 5 (AZ)
19:00 – Saxon Gerstl, 3 (AZ)
22:00 – Saxon Gerstl, 5 (AZ)
28:00 – Gur Levy, 5
31:00 – Rand Santos, 5
38:00 – Rand Santos, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
Half: Cal, 24, Arizona, 20
42:00 – Byron Finley, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
45:00 – Nick Morgan, 5, Saxon Gerstl, 2 (AZ)
55:00 – Byron Finley, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
60:00 – Chris Goose, 5, Saxon Gerstl, 2 (AZ)
63:00 – Rand Santos, 5
67:00 – Henry Langrish 5 (AZ)
70:00 – Filip Edstrom, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
75:00 – Aidan Kemp, 5, Saxon Gerstl, 2 (AZ)
78:00 – Brice Muller, 5, Filip Edstrom, 2
79:00 – Saxon Gerstl, 5 (AZ)
Final: Cal, 57, Arizona, 51
 
Starting XV:
1. Oliver Kirk 2. Alex Vieira 3. Cade Crist 4. Byron Finley 5. Brice Muller 6. Flynn O'Connell (Brady Weingart 67') 7. Chris Biller 8. Oliver Teague 9. Solomon Williams 10. Rand Santos 11. Gur Levy (Nate Comiskey 67') 12. Filip Edstrom 13. Peter Symington (Max Threlkeld 40', Oliver Sinclair 55') 14. Emmett Cook 15. Oliver Newall