Cal Trails Early But Escapes With Gritty Win

It was a strange and seldom-seen scenario Thursday afternoon at Witter Rugby Field.

When the starters on the Cal rugby team began warming up, the match was already in progress.

When the Cal contingent of the crowd-which usually has much to cheer about-wasn't silent, it was yelling things like, "Bears, take control!"

And when the clock signaled the midway point of the first half, the lineup of Cal reserves was visibly shocked by a 21-0 deficit to Saint Cuthbert.

"It was a game that could have gone either way," coach Jack Clark said. "Someone was gonna ... lose by a try. And when we were down 21-0, I reckoned that would be us."

The Bears then scored 29 unanswered points before halftime, eventually edging their British opponents from Durham 41-33 in their last home match of the season.

In doing so, Cal (20-0) left its starters with a chance to finish the regular season in perfect fashion when the team faces British Columbia in the second leg of the World Cup Series. That match, scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in Vancouver, Canada, will likely be as difficult for the First XV as Thursday's match was for the reserves.

"This is probably one of the toughest matches I've played in, holding back a UBC match," sophomore flyhalf Sean Gallinger said. "They had great skills, and they moved the ball better than any team we've seen all year."

With four minutes remaining in the first half and the Bears trailing 21-19, Gallinger had a chance to put his team ahead on a penalty kick.

And for a player whose team rarely faces a deficit, it was an odd opportunity.

"It was a strange feeling," Gallinger said. "I was looking right at the scoreboard and we were down by two ... I just tried to block all that out. All I wanted to do was get a clean strike and let it carry through the posts."

Gallinger had missed a potentially tying conversion three minutes earlier, but the penalty kick put Cal ahead for good just before halftime.

St. Cuthbert wing Christian Holbrook, who finished with four tries, touched down in the first minute of the second half and cut the Bears' lead to one.

But Cal secured the victory when scrumhalf Andrew Mase crossed the try line in the 54th minute and fellow sophomore Tom Rooke scored two minutes later.

"We hit them a bit harder than they expected," St. Cuthbert captain Rory Robertson said. "But then they just got their game plan running and ... wore us down."

Said Gallinger, who finished 4-for-6 on conversions: "We got away with a win."

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