Seamus Kelly called them “some of the most impressive individuals in the nation.”
Danny Barrett called them “big, strong, thick guys who are going out to protect our country.”
Even Cal coach Jack Clark called them “the most organized, buttoned-up, disciplined, fit, team-oriented guys you can ever imagine.”
The Cal rugby team seemed to be expecting a challenge from the U.S. Naval Academy in Saturday’s national semifinal.
It wasn’t even close.
The Bears bade farewell to their home crowd and advanced to the Varsity Cup national championship with a resounding 74-6 win over the Midshipmen at Witter Rugby Field.
“When there’s nothing to lose, single elimination, there’s not much to leave in the tank,” said Kelly, a senior. “We emptied it.”
In a pattern consistent with many of their blowout wins this year, the Bears (21-0) allowed their opponent to hang in early in the first half before making adjustments to put the game out of reach.
Three minutes in, Navy (9-2) took a 3-0 lead on a Jack McAuliffe penalty kick. After two Cal tries gave the Bears a hearty lead, McAuliffe nailed another penalty at the 20-minute mark to cut Cal’s lead to 12-6.
The Midshipmen wouldn’t score again the rest of the day. The Bears closed the game on a 62-0 run.
“I think we played good defense,” Barrett, a senior playing his final home game for Cal, said. “It’s a tough thing when you’ve got a guy who’s going to be giving his life running at you, trying to bowl over you. So our defense, our tackling was stout today. It was on par.”
Cal’s lethal, aggressive offense left Navy’s defense on its heels throughout the match. No more than 13 minutes passed between each Cal try, with six being scored in each half.
Kelly led the squad with four tries, but nine different Bears contributed points throughout the match. Freshman Harry Adolphus, making his first start of the season at fullback, nailed all five of his conversions after taking over for an injured Jake Anderson.
Even by Cal standards, it was a landmark performance. Whereas many head coaches are self-critical after being routed by the Bears, Navy’s Mike Flanagan refused to admonish his own team.
“We know we can’t adjust what we do to stop what they do,” he said. “We worked really hard to play our style and our scheme, but Cal did a great job defensively, keeping us out of it.”
Now just one game stands between the Bears and their eighth national championship in the last 10 years. Their opponent? BYU, the winner of the other two.
The two teams had squared off in six consecutive national title games before the Bears withdrew from USA Rugby last year. With the two old rivals realigned this year in the newly inaugurated Varsity Cup, Cal will face its stiffest challenge on the road in the season’s final game.
“No doubt,” Clark said when asked if the upcoming matchup is his team’s toughest of the year.
But after the team’s performance against Navy, it’s hard to doubt the Bears at all.
“These guys are really good,” Flanagan said. “This might be clinically, technically, physically one of the best Cal teams we’ve had the privilege to play against.
“Man oh man, they’re rock solid.”
Chris Yoder covers rugby. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.