Following last weekend’s 75-22 win over UCLA, the Cal rugby team will once again rely on its depth when it returns to Witter Rugby Field for what could be the team’s most grueling stretch of the season.
On Saturday, the Bears (12-0, 2-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference) take on PAC Rugby Conference opponent Arizona at 1 p.m. Only two days later, Cal will return to Witter Rugby Field to host Penn State at 6 p.m.
Because the two matches are against higher-level competition, Cal head coach Jack Clark plans on playing many of his starters in both. This will challenge the stamina of his players and their ability to recover in a short period of time. Luckily for the Bears, depth is one of the squad’s strong points.
“Just one day off, and another match is pretty intense,” said Cal junior flanker Alec Gletzer. “But like a lot of the guys have been saying, we have a lot of depth on our team, so the next guy is just as good as the first guy.”
With starting prop J.P. Hurrell out with an injury, the Bears will want to come out of the two matches as healthy as possible.
“It is a busy stretch, so we will have to spread some opportunities around,” Clark said. “We’ll try to get into this stretch of games, beginning Saturday, as fresh as we can.”
Arizona (3-2, 0-1 in the PAC Rugby Conference) is coming off a 46-28 win in its most recent match against the Air Force Academy, but head coach Dave Sitton said this season his team has “had mixed reviews.” The Wildcats lost 41-10 to Utah, who is currently second in the PAC Rugby Conference, after only trailing the Utes 12-10 at the half.
Sitton is looking to the matchup against Cal to gauge how well his team will be able to limit its errors.
“Quite frankly, we heighten our awareness,” said Sitton, of playing the Bears.
“And I think that is a good thing for us, for our players, to understand that every play is precious.”
Even though the match against Arizona is important for the Bears in the PAC Rugby Conference standings, the Monday night match against an elite opponent, will make for a unique setting.
“I am definitely really excited about the Monday night game,” said Cal junior loosehead Tanner Mohr.
“I think the atmosphere up here is going to be awesome. We haven’t had a night game up here in a while, so that is going to be fun.”
The Nittany Lions are currently on a trip out west to test their ability against three Bay Area rugby teams. They face off with St. Mary’s on Friday afternoon and Cal Maritime on Wednesday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions’ meeting with the Bears on Monday will only be their third official match of the spring season, but Clark is expecting the team’s best.
“I don’t think you would see Penn State choosing to spend budget and take this trip if they didn’t think they were coming to Strawberry Canyon with a chance to win,” Clark said.
“I think Penn State will be very good and it will be a real test for us.”
Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at [email protected]