When the Cal rugby team returned to Witter Rugby Field after falling short of its sixth straight national title, graduating senior Ryan Harris offered freshman Danny Barrett some advice.

"I didn't really talk to him for that long, but the one thing he said was, 'Don't let it happen to you,'" Barrett said. "That's going to stay with me for a while."

From the start of the season, the Bears' ultimate goal was a national title. It wasn't a lofty aspiration, but more of a standard set by the 24 championship-winning Cal teams that came before them.

So losing at the hands of BYU in the title game, 25-22, was a startling end to the season.

Six days after losing the national title, some of the Bears are still struggling to fully understand how the top-ranked Cal squad was upended in the final minutes of the match. But all members of this year's squad now carry permanent reminders of their fallibility.

"BYU can beat us; we're human," Barrett said. "But once you're on the top, it's harder to stay on the top. Now BYU is on the top and it's going to be hard for them to stay there and we're going to come back with a vengeance."

Cal's national championship loss stunned most of its players who, until this season, had never fallen short of a national title. And if something affects the winningest team in the nation, it changes collegiate rugby in the States.

"It's going to change the opposition; they're going to look at us completely differently," junior James Bailes said. "Last season they could see Cal as unbeatable, and that's going to make things especially harder for us next year because teams will know they can now beat us. It's a case for us to work harder."

From 1991 to 2002, the Bears won 12 straight national titles and it seemed like their dominance was unmatched. Although this season broke Cal's latest five-year streak, it proved that the national tournament isn't as much of a foregone conclusion as once thought.

"Coming from a South African background where rugby is one of the top games, (last weekend's championship) game was fought harder than most of the games I've played there," Bailes said.

While this season will be remembered as the first time in program history that Cal reached the national championship match and lost, that one game was preceded by 30 victories and another World Cup Series win.

"This doesn't cancel out an entire season of tough rugby-guys you bleed with and play with every single day," junior transfer Blaine Scully said. "And I'm still happy to play with these 15 guys, and then you say goodbye to the seniors and never want to feel like this again."

The only ones not thinking about the future were the seniors and fifth-year ruggers not returning for the 2010 season. For those 16 athletes, the 2009 national championship match was the last game of their careers. And that only motivates next year's team to reclaim the national title and settle any unfinished business.

"You always play for the alumni and the school, so by us winning in a year then that's going back to them," Barrett said. "They'll be winning a title even though they won't be a member of the team physically anymore. Any game that's won is a win for everyone that has ever played in the program."

Tags: CAL RUGBY, JACK CLARK