Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series explaining what postseason path lies ahead for the Cal rugby team.
A month before the regular season even started, Cal knew it would not be able to defend its 2011 national championship.
The team, unhappy with the postseason scheduling, had withdrawn from the newly formed USA Rugby Premier Division — just seven months after beating BYU to win the league’s first ever national championship — making the squad ineligible to compete in this year’s postseason tournament.
The Bears were not alone in their dissatisfaction with the league, as Ivy League champion Dartmouth and SEC powerhouses LSU and Tennessee also withdrew. The long-term stability of the league is very much in question, and major changes for collegiate rugby could be on the horizon.
It will be hard for the Premier Division to consider itself elite without having one of the most storied programs in the history of collegiate rugby as a participant.
“With Cal’s history, we’d be better off with Cal in it for sure,” said BYU coach David Smyth, whose team is considered a favorite to win the Premier Division this year. “Things are up in the air somewhat, and we’re waiting for USA Rugby to show some leadership and help us to get where we need to go.”
Regardless, the Cal players understood the decision and were willing to just move forward.
“I trusted coach (Jack Clark), and he’s really good at knowing what the team needs and where it needs to go in the future,” said freshman Andrew Battaglia. “All of us trusted him, and from there we were okay with it.”
The squad would later be ruled ineligible for the old D-1 championship tournament given its recent affiliation with the Premier Division, leaving it without any viable 15-player postseason.
Cal still took home some hardware — the Scrum Axe from Stanford and the World Cup from British Columbia — but was essentially only playing for pride.
“What people look to do is to play for each other on the team, and play for that Blue and Gold,” said junior Seamus Kelly. “Playing for Cal and playing for each other is more important than playing for any medal or any championship.”
However, the lack of a traditional 15s postseason presents the squad with an opportunity that it has never had before — a chance to adequately prepare for the Collegiate Rugby Championship, a National 7-player tournament in June.
The Bears are far from the only team in America shifting its focus to 7s rugby. Partly due to the inclusion of 7s rugby in the Olympics starting in 2016, both 15s and 7s are beginning to be considered legitimate and relevant.
Sevens rugby is a much faster version of its 15s counterpart and will likely have more appeal to the casual fan.
“I think while most rugby traditionalists might prefer the deeper tactical elements of the 15s game, there are a lot of aspects of 7s that I think will help it thrive quickly in the U.S.,” said Stanford coach Matt Sherman. “It’s easier to learn and understand, and it’s more commercially friendly and entertaining to watch for the casual spectator.”
Despite being a traditional 15s powerhouse and having little history with 7s play, the Cal rugby team is fully incorporating the shift.
However, the Bears are still staying committed to 15s and will look to compete for a national championship again in 2013. The squad is waiting to see if the Premier Division dissolves — which is more than possible — and from there will evaluate what its best options are for 2013.
But the team is wasting no time incorporating more of a focus on 7s for the future. Starting later this year, Cal will turn the fall into a purely 7s portion of its season, looking to play in three or four tournaments for somewhere between 12 and 24 matches.
“We have a strong tradition of 15s, and we’re still committed to the 15s game, but we’re going to build a 7s program here at Cal,” said coach Jack Clark. “We have a ways to go in order to be a good 7s team, and we acknowledge that.”
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This sports reporting of rugby is a joke. You obviously know nothing of the sport, except the simple jargon any mindless, moron can pick up from watching one rugby match and reading a USA Rugby article. Can we get people who actually play rugby and understand the sport to write these articles?!? PLEASE. And yeah, Jack Clark did pull out of the premier division because he knew his young team had no chance at winning a national title this year. So why put his team through the stress, especially since nationals would be held during finals week? He is taking the time to rebuild his team (a lesson other Cal coaches should take). Regardless, the Cal Men’s Rugby team has won 26 (out of 32) national titles. So haters, GTFO. I’d like to see some of you go out and play the physically and mentally grueling 80-minute game that is rugby.
FOREVER! Cal Rugby Forever.
The next round of premier pullouts will be coming this year, same as last, in May. Maybe a few teams before this in April, but most directly after the season. I think a couple of teams will want to stay like the non-NCAA school like Life, or the DII-III NCAA schools, like Kutztown and Ark St, but it is no secret most of the better known schools appear done with the premier league. Maybe done with USA Rugby also!
“UCLA, Utah, CU, ASU, UofA, OSU, Stanford and Cal are all solid teams.”
For starters, Stanford’s team is a joke. Cal beat them earlier this year 109-0, so Mr. Article Writer please don’t treat Cal winning “the Scrum Axe” like it was an accomplishment worth a rat’s ass. Oregon State is a decent Division I team (2nd-best team in the Pacific Northwest region after Central Washington it looks like) but they’re in the same bracket with Santa Clara in the Division I playoffs this coming weekend, a team Cal beat this season 83-7.
“…but it is no secret most of the better known schools appear done with the premier league. ”
And in political terms Mr. Jack Clark’s idea was a failure and he has shifted blame off of his idea and onto USA Rugby. Well done for him on being a brilliant Machiavellian, but for those of us that know better, it is and always was his baby.
Rugby is a lot like college ice hockey. Setting it up under a BCS-style system that is only based around football and nothing else just doesn’t work when there’s a lot of BCS schools that are absolutely worthless in the sport and there’s a lot of non-BCS schools that are much better than them. If the sport was more popular, a BCS format could maybe work. But we are far away from that point.
LMAO. Stanford’s men team IS a joke. But their women’s team is no joke. Beasts.
“It will be hard for the Premier Division to consider itself elite without having one of the most storied programs in the history of collegiate rugby as a participant”……….. Compared to what, Conner? So, is there another MORE elite league somewhere in the U.S. just because Cal decided pull out? Uh, no. It’s still elite. And from what it looks like, Cal isn’t even the strongest side in colliegiate rugby this year. Weak team (this year)…big coaching staff egos…no tournament. Lame…
Gee Ace — what part of not being elite requires a comparison? You can say a league is not elite without having to establish that another league is elite. Maybe there are no elite leagues at all. Your logic is as bad as your anger/envy is obvious. So did a rugby player beat you up and take your lunch money?
The Pac-12 rugby competition will be fantastic if it happens. UCLA, Utah, CU, ASU, UofA, OSU, Stanford and Cal are all solid teams. It will become one of the best rugby leagues in the United States. Cal is on record in its desire to continue to play the likes of SMC and the other local teams as well as wanting to play schools like ND and the Military Academies during its regular season. With the return of the rugby field this should make for an exciting season. Once the premier league finishes its collapse, the post season will either look similar to previous years or a new competition will emerge. I doubt there will be a new exciting national championship without Cal and BYU playing significant roles. One thing is for sure US college rugby needs Cal. The 3rd getting beat at SLO or the 1st getting beat in Moraga without Big Danny Barrett doesn’t change Cal’s place in college rugby. They are in a 15-2 rebuilding year, not bad at all.
26 out of the last 32 national collegiate championships is what I’m jokin about! Cal left a USA Rugby disfunctional competition as the winners. New competitions will be created and the Bears will fight on as the storied rugby team that they are. Can you say Pac-12? Cal Rugby Forever!
A Pac-12 competition where Cal defeats every team except Utah by 70 points. Who wants to watch that? They may have left it as the winners but losing to St. Mary’s and Cal Poly with a B+ side speaks for itself. Knowledgeable rugby watchers across the country can see they weren’t going to win the competition this year and BYU is likely beating St. Mary’s (which defeated Cal) in the final.
Clay’s post is effectively spot on with everything. The College Premier Division was Jack Clark’s idea. The problem with American rugby has always been there is zero depth, and so Clark wanted to create a competition where the best teams in the country played one another more regularly. On the old CollegeTalk podcast on American Rugby News he stated it to editor Brian Lowe as what should be done amidst talk at the time of the college game seceding from USA Rugby altogether and then him and other college coaches met to iron out the details. USA Rugby acquiesced to collegiate demands (otherwise they were faced with losing all their CIPP dues money) and that is what became the College Premier Division. Clark was upset there was no sponsorship for college rugby as a major reason for pulling out. Well, newsflash, rugby is not a popular sport in this country, as shown by the fact that the only major university in the country with rugby as a varsity sport is Cal. (There are other minor universities with varsity rugby: Life in Georgia, Lindenwood in Missouri, Davenport in Michigan.)Clay, be nicer to the writer, rugby is a minor sport with internal politics being a complete labyrinth. I doubt Mr. Connor Byrne knows any better unless he’s well in tune with the workings of American rugby and he was therefore just writing what he was told, so I don’t think he’s in anyone’s pocket, just guilty of verbatim reporting.
What a joke Cal is. This Premier Division they keep bitching about was THEIR FLIPPING IDEA! They backed out in the 11th hour like the cowards they are. BYU had their number this year, and apparently so did St Mary’s and Cal Poly… Its also hilarious that they call LSU and Tennessee “powerhouses” as though they were also powerhouses in the premier division. They got their clocks cleaned by Life and Arkansas State last year. And they backed out because the SEC was more marketable to them and their fan base. That’s NOT the same reasons Cal backed out. And Dartmouth backed out because the school support was for an Ivy League championship. Looks like JC has the writers in this pocket no matter who is writing the article.