In the waning moments of another convincing home win, Paul Bosco crumpled to the ground as his teammates ran in the Cal’s 14th try of the game. With the wind sucked out of a raucous stadium, one of the team’s most consistent players laid on the pitch with a right leg injury that’s most likely season-ending.
To a Cal rugby team already struggling to stay healthy, the junior’s broken leg comes as a blow. But the success of the Bears has never hinged on a single player.
As the Bears (13-0, 3-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference) showed yet again in Saturday’s 80-14 win over Arizona at Witter Rugby Field, they’re a team defined by their depth as much as anything else.
Now, with a number of brutal matchups on the horizon, Cal will need that depth more than ever.
“We just keep going,” Clark said. “Paul’s an important member of the team — he’s a very good player. It’s a setback. We have some other boys on the team that are pretty good, and we’ll just keep going ahead.”
On Saturday, it was Andrew Battaglia’s turn to step up. In the first half alone, Arizona (3-3, 0-2) allowed four tries to the sophomore, who barreled through the Wildcat defense with ease. By the time the game was over, Battaglia had converted a career-high six tries.
It was the most points any Cal player had scored on tries all season long.
“I thought he was fast and he was pretty powerful, a bit of a little tank,” Clark said. “He had a couple chances to beat guys on the outside. I think he just kind of blasted into them and kept going.”
Playing a mixed lineup to get a better sense of his team’s younger players, Clark was relatively happy — for the most part — with the results. Six underclassmen started the game, and several more entered as substitutes early on in the second half.
“I thought it was a pretty solid performance,” Clark said. “We spread some opportunities around.”
One of those substitutes was Bosco, who relinquished his normal starting spot at scrumhalf to sophomore Nicklas Boyer. When Bosco entered as a substitute, it was as a flyhalf, where Clark was looking to get the junior more experience.
Now, with Bosco out indefinitely, the Bears will have to give that experience to someone else.
“Paul was out there getting some minutes in,” Clark said. “Just one of those things that could’ve happened at any time.”
Cal isn’t likely to be challenged much in the next three weeks. But the Bears end the regular season with a trio of tough matchups, starting March 24 at British Columbia.
By then, the Bears will need to fill the holes in their roster. Arizona coach Dave Sitton thinks they have the depth to do it.
“If you’re going to be here, you’re going to prepare yourself so that you can compete at the varsity level as quickly as possible,” he said.
“I think that’s just a tribute to the culture. California rugby’s a culture as much as anything else.”
Chris Yoder covers rugby. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrisyoder92.