Last year, the Bears failed to make the playoffs, suffered two losses for the first time since 2009 and played all their matches on the road. It was not a normal season for the 26-time national champions.

“A lot of people saw us as having a down year,” said Cal captain Seamus Kelly early in the season. “We want to re-establish ourselves at the top of the sport.”

And that was the goal coming into the spring: to prove last season was just an anomaly.

The team’s campaign started well. At Cal’s official reopening of Witter Rugby Field, against Stanford, the Bears exploded for a 176-0 victory. In the team’s first match in the newly formed PAC Rugby Conference, against Arizona State, Cal won 104-0. And in a rematch of last year’s loss to Cal Poly, the Bears defeated the Mustangs 112-7.

A 10-point home win over the University of British Columbia in February was an early test. But Cal was the best team throughout the match — minus a few lapses in the second half.

The Bears had yet to show how good they could be.

But in the course of two matches in early March, the Bears lost scrumhalf Paul Bosco and wing Anthony Lombardo to season-ending injuries. For a team with more than five dozen players, it wasn’t a question of whether or not someone could fill in the spots but of how the Bears would respond after losing two of the best players in the country at their positions.

Despite the injuries, the Bears kept winning.

With a 17-0 record, Cal headed into its final three matches of the regular season in what proved to be the Bears’ toughest stretch. After slim halftime leads against British Columbia and Utah, Cal used strong second halves to win.

But the team’s most impressive comeback came in the regular season finale against St. Mary’s. Trailing by 15 at the half, the Bears scored three tries in 13 minutes to open the second half. Cal went on to beat the Gaels by 11 points.

It proved to be the defining win of the season.

Less than a month after the St. Mary’s match, in the finals of the Varsity Cup National Championships, the Bears were down early.

Trailing Brigham Young University 16-3 late in the first half, Cal freshman Russell Webb’s try brought the Bears within single digits.

In the second half, when BYU tried to extend its lead, Cal came back again. A try from Kelly with six minutes to play tied the score. For a moment, it looked like the Bears might pull it off.

But a well-executed tactic — a drop kick off the foot of BYU halfback Jonathan Linehan — as time expired, ended Cal’s undefeated season and hopes for a title.

Finishing with a national championship would have been a storybook end to the year. But Cal head coach Jack Clark still viewed the season as a success.

“The 2013 team, under Seamus’ leadership, really took us back to where we want to be,” Clark said after the championship match. “I’m privileged to coach this particular team. I am really proud of the things we were able to accomplish.”

For Kelly, the match against BYU should not be his last. He plans on returning to the team for his fifth year next spring in what Clark said would be his third season as captain of the Bears. Even though the 2013 season ended without a championship trophy, the team’s 21-1 record re-established Cal’s standing as one of the best rugby teams in the country.

“There were some great moments this season,” Kelly said after the match against BYU. “I think we can look at ourselves as a team that got Cal rugby back on track.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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With only seconds left in the match, Brigham Young University’s freshman halfback Jonathan Linehan received the ball from a scrum just meters away from the Bears’ goal line. The Cal players had no time to react. In one motion, Linehan drop-kicked the ball through the uprights.

The referee then blew his whistle. The match was over.

Cal (21-1) fell, 27-24, to BYU (12-2) in Saturday afternoon’s final of the inaugural Varsity Cup National Championships.

“Guys played really hard, but I think our game was lacking a certain level of precision,” said Cal captain Seamus Kelly after the match. “We just let some little things go, and that cost us.”

Kelly emphasized that the Bears’ inability to complete scoring chances was key to the final outcome. Fullback Jake Anderson missed two penalty kicks, and Cal failed to come away with points after having chances near the Cougars’ goal line.

“They just took advantage of our mistakes and their opportunities,” Kelly said. “In a championship game, you can’t leave points off the board.”

Cal head coach Jack Clark agreed. He felt his team’s inability to put points away early played a bigger factor in his team’s loss than the final play of the match.

“I think we had some opportunities to score some points earlier in the match,” Clark said. “We had three or four legitimate scoring opportunities that we didn’t realize. That was a game that we could have won, and we didn’t. We let that one get away.”

But even with the missed chances, the Bears had multiple instances where they fought back during the game. The comeback began at the end of the first half.

Trailing by 13 points with six minutes left in the half, Cal freshman flyhalf Russell Webb’s quick-tap off of a penalty surprised BYU. Webb drove over the try-line, and his score brought the game to the 16-10 halftime score.

The Bears’ effort continued in the second half. “We had some players who put their guts into it, like Seamus,” Clark said. “I thought we played better in the second half that we did in the first.”

With the Cougars leading 19-10, mid-way through the second half, the Bears scored off of an attacking lineout. After Brendan Daly received the ball, a rolling maul from the Bears pushed BYU back to its goal line where flanker Jack O’Beirne touched down.

After an unconverted try by the Cougars, the Bears used another attacking lineout to set up a try from Kelly. A conversion by Anderson tied the score at 24 with only six minutes remaining.

Then came Linehan’s kick in the final seconds to seal the game. The freshman accounted for 22 of BYU’s points.

The Cougars’ win gave the team their third national championship in program history. All three have come in the past five seasons.

It was also the seventh meeting between the two teams in a national championship. With the loss, the Bears now have a 5-2 record in those matches.

After beating BYU in the national championship final in 2010 and 2011, the Bears failed to make the postseason last year.

Cal’s veteran players therefore viewed this year’s campaign as an opportunity for redemption.

And although the Bears’ season did not end perfectly, the team’s success this year was a sign that the program was back to its expectations.

“There were some great moments this season,” Kelly said. “I think we can look at ourselves as the team that got that Cal rugby back on track.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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Not only will a win against the No. 6 seed Naval Academy advance the No. 2 Bears (20-0) to the finals of the Varsity Cup National Championships, but Cal will also have a chance to close out its first season back at home with an undefeated record.

And for a team that played the 2011 and 2012 seasons completely on the road, it has been a welcome return. So far, the team is 12-0 at home, with its closest outcomes coming in its last two matches.

“It’s been tremendous to be back here,” said Cal captain Seamus Kelly. “This is our home. Every time we run on this field with the fans and the championship banners, we are reminded of what’s come before us and the responsibility and the tradition we are a part of.”

Success for the Cal rugby team at home is nothing new. In fact, no player on the current Cal roster has ever lost a 15s match at home.

The last time the Bears lost to an opponent at Witter Rugby Field was March 3, 2007, to the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club.

And the last time Cal lost at home to a collegiate rugby team? April 3, 2004, to Cal Poly.

Despite Cal’s success, Saturday’s 2 p.m. match against Navy could be different.

The Midshipmen are coming off a 32-0 upset win over Dartmouth in Annapolis, Md., a victory that followed Cal’s win over Notre Dame last weekend.

After Cal head coach Jack Clark watched Navy play, he is expecting a tough match from the opposition.

In their history, the Bears have yet to lose to Navy, and the last time the two teams met in the postseason, Cal defeated the Midshipmen in the national collegiate semifinals in 2007. That year, the Bears went on to win the national championship.

“The Naval Academy team is comprised of a bunch of the most organized, buttoned-up disciplined, fit, team-oriented guys you can ever imagine,” Clark said. “How are we going to do when we play against a group of men who are of that caliber? Traditionally we’ve done well. But we don’t take that for granted.”

Clark was also impressed by Navy’s scrumhalf, No. 9, and flyhalf, No. 10, who he said possessed the ball for the majority of Navy’s offensive possessions.

“I thought they were were the two best 9s and 10s in the competition,” Clark said. “And a couple of the best I have seen all season.”

Combine that with uncertainty over injuries to Cal’s Andrew Battaglia, Russell Webb and Jared Braun, who did not travel to Annapolis last weekend, and the match could be tight.

But either way, the Bears can take solace in the fact of where the match is being played.

“There is nothing better than playing here at home,” said Cal hooker Grant Hyjer. “Coming back here and being able to go out with a bang would be a really awesome day.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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His Cal rugby team was behind St. Mary’s by 15 points — the first time the club was trailing an opponent at halftime all season. Cal’s undefeated regular season was in jeopardy.

Clark looked into the eyes of his players, who donned their blue and gold striped jerseys and formed a semicircle around him. “Let’s put something into this thing,” Clark calmly says over the buzz of more than 2,000 fans in attendance.

His tone was less like a rugby coach than it was like a teacher encouraging his students to put in more effort. The halftime talk ended quickly afterward.

“When he talks, all eyes are on him,”says Bob Driscoll, who serves as the athletic director at Providence College and who worked in the Cal athletic department from 1987-2001. “There is an unconditional belief in him. When he says something, it is absolutely authentic and believable.”

His players retook the field and knew exactly what to do.

At 6-feet-5-inches with broad shoulders, Clark is still built like the offensive lineman he was at Cal. He is an imposing figure. Even in a group of rugby players, the 57-year-old stands out.

But his resume is more outstanding than his stature.

In 30 seasons as head coach of the Cal rugby team, he has won 22 national championships and compiled a 558-70-5 overall record as coach of the Bears’ 15s team with records unmatched in collegiate rugby history.

“I don’t think there is a better American coach,” said Mike Flanagan, head coach of the Navy rugby team. “We see where American rugby can be. He has built the team — and shown us how to do it.”

Straddling the line between being supportive and being direct, Clark has also been able to connect with his players on another level. The coach, who is famous for his inspirational post-championship talks, also knows exactly what to say, just at the right moment.

With his team trailing the Gaels at halftime, Clark was at his calmest. The players didn’t need their coach to get their face; they knew exactly what to do.

“He knows how to put things into perspective,” says Gary Hein, who played rugby at Cal from 1984-88. “With regard to any given game, moment in time and season.”

In the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Bears exploded for three tries. And for a second, after the Bears scored a late try to give them a 16-point lead late in the second half, Clark even took part in a momentary celebration. Clark pumped his first forward, like a boxer jabbing with a right hook.

The celebration came from a different Jack Clark, who normally paces back and forth on the sidelines emotionless, even if his team is up by triple-digits.

It was a rare moment of emotion from the usually stoic coach. It was a glimpse into one of many Jack Clarks.

Before he became the face of American rugby, Clark was a letterman in football, basketball and track and field in high school. Rugby was not even on his radar.

After three semesters at Orange Coast Community College, close to his hometown of Huntington Beach, Calif., he took a scholarship to play football at Cal, where he started in the spring of 1976. At Orange Coast, he was first exposed to rugby, so  he knew a “little bit” about the sport.

“I thought it was always great, from the very first time I saw it,” Clark says. “There is a little bit of basketball and a little bit of football involved. So it always looked very attractive to me and fun to play.”

But it wasn’t until Clark came to Cal that he first played the sport. After his football season in the fall, he and a dozen of his teammates joined the rugby team in the spring.

“It was just kind of a natural migration,” Clark says. “I think somebody just tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Let’s go — you’re going to play rugby.’”

It turned out to be the perfect sport for the big and athletic Clark. But it wasn’t until he was cut trying out for the Philadelphia Eagles in the National Football League in 1978 that he became devoted solely to rugby.

He was selected to join the U.S. National Team, and in October 1980, he was the only American starter for the World XV team at Cardiff Arms Park in Wales.

Already playing for the National Team, Clark had aspirations to continue his rugby career overseas and to play at the highest level that he could.

“I would have been in New Zealand somewhere making tackles undoubtedly and ended up with a bunch of good stories,” Clark says.

But one month later, on Nov. 10, 1980, the course of Clark’s life — and playing career — changed.

At an after-party of a restaurant opening in San Francisco, a woman came into the party, saying she had been accosted. When the assailants tried to follow her in, they were forced to leave by the other people in attendance.

Observing what was happening, Clark was not eager to get involved. He felt that other people in attendance — San Francisco 49er players and other rugby players — could take care of the situation.

But as he tried to go outside to help clear the men out of the street, he was hit in the back of the head by one of the assailants.

Clark chased the man across the street when suddenly, he faced a man with a gun, a 9 mm Magnum. He had “no way to go and no way out.”

He was hit four times.: twice in his left leg, once in his right knee and once in his hand.

Clark was rushed to the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries. After two months in the hospital, losing 40 pounds and suffering “debilitating” pain, he faced possible amputation.

“It was important for me to fight through that,” Clark said. “You can always give up your leg, but there is only a period of time you can fight for it. And I wasn’t done fighting.”

Even though he recovered well enough to start training, and he felt like he could play rugby again, Clark decided against it.

If it hadn’t been for that shooting, Clark thinks now, he may never have got into coaching rugby and would have lived a completely different life.

“Who knows, I may have never coached,” Clark says. “It is funny how things that seem like tragedies at the time are ultimately blessings.”

With his rugby career over, Clark turned to an investment banking job, where he became a senior vice president of a firm. But he found the job unfulfilling and decided he wanted to return to sports as a coach.

As a young athlete at Cal, Clark appreciated his coaches, who he said “made the contest really come alive.” He even thought about coaching other sports, but by then, Clark had fallen in love with rugby.

Clark returned to his alma mater, in 1982, and served as a volunteer assistant coach under Ned Anderson, his former rugby coach at Cal. After serving for two years as Anderson’s assistant, the two men switched roles.

Anderson served as Clark’s assistant for a year and then handed him the reins. In 1984, Clark became the sixth coach in the Cal rugby program’s history.

In 1985, Clark’s second season as head coach, the Bears won the national title.

“He built on the strong foundation that was already here,” Anderson says. “He has taken it to another level.”

Less than 24 hours after the St. Mary’s game, 60-odd Cal rugby players sat in gray Cal rugby T-shirts, and blue shorts with notebooks in front of them. At the Tahir Family Team Theater, in the depths of the university’s newly completed athletic center, the team was holding a postmatch review session.

In the film room, Clark is the professor. He paces in front of the team, moves his arms back and forth and opens the meeting by summarizing his initial thoughts from the match.

The satisfaction from the team’s comeback win was still evident. Players and coaches had momentary laughs about the game when recalling it from memory. But for the most part, Clark and coach Tom Billups were back at work.

Despite his full control of the team, Clark still knows when to let go and delegate work to his players. When one of the players brought up the team’s “big-time” scrumming ability as an area of concern, Clark said to his older players, in the front row, “Can I leave that one with you guys? We all got to opt in.”

When the meeting shifted to film, so did the tension in the room. Billups controlled the computer, and Clark controlled the silence. Both coaches used laser pointers to identify specific structures of players or efforts that they did not like.

Clark emphasized that he was not satisfied by the team’s performance.

“How come you didn’t bring that up when you were jumping up and down throwing your hands up and down like a madman?” Clark asked when one of his players celebrated prematurely in the St. Mary’s match. “Guys in blue and gold jerseys don’t do that.”

The players responded in unison: “Yes, coach.”

After showing the first 15 minutes of the match, Clark emphasized that the Bears controlled large moments of possession in the St. Mary’s defensive half, and that the team had given the Gaels chances to score by turning the ball over.

It did not look like a team being dominated. Just one not executing.

Billups and Clark continued to run the film. The two teams traded penalty kicks and the Gaels held on to an early lead.

But by then, Clark had already made his points: Play needs to improve, Stay focused and the first half was not as bad as it seemed.

“OK, that’s good here,” Clark said, directing coach Billups to stop the film.

The last shot on the projector was the scoreboard. It showed his team down three points with 10 minutes to play in the first half.

Bypassing the team’s dramatic comeback in the second half, Clark went back to the front of the room, ready to lead his team back to work.

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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Facing off against the No. 7 seed Notre Dame, the No. 2 seed Bears got 13 tries from 10 different players en route to a 77-0 victory at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Md., Saturday afternoon.

The quarterfinal match of the inaugural eight-team Varsity Cup National Championship was Cal’s first playoff match — and win — in almost two years.

Three starters — flyhalf Russell Webb, wing Andrew Battaglia and center Jared Braun — did not make the trip for Cal due to injury, which gave the team an opportunity to feature a mixed lineup against Notre Dame. It also meant that some of Cal’s younger players had a chance to play in a postseason for the first time.

“I thought a lot of young guys played really big,” said sophomore Michael Bush, playing in his first postseason match. “It was a big game for us.”

Despite the infusion of youth, the Bears (20-0) were still led by some of their most experienced players. Lock Brendan Daly, No. 8 Danny Barrett and fullback Jake Anderson led the scoring with two tries each. And Anderson was 6-for-10 on conversions, giving him a total of 22 combined points.

The high-level play of Cal’s backups should come as no surprise. Despite losing starters Paul Bosco and Anthony Lombardo to injuries earlier in the year, Cal closed the regular season with wins in key matches. The Bears beat the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, held on against Utah at home and had a strong come-from-behind victory in their regular-season finale last week against St. Mary’s.

Cal’s strong play continued Saturday. The Bears had a 29-0 advantage after 40 minutes before extending their lead after halftime. For the third week in a row, the Bears scored a try five minutes or less into the second half. And Cal shut out an opponent for the ninth time this year.

“It is good to be back in the postseason,” said Bush, who played flanker against the Fighting Irish. “We have had our eyes on this date for four or five months now.”

Make that 12 months.

Last year, when the Bears fell to St. Mary’s, 20-18, in the team’s regular-season finale, their 15s rugby season was over. For a program with 26 national championships in 33 years, not making it past the regular season was a disappointment. But this year’s squad is back in a familiar position.

“It is obviously a great opportunity that we didn’t have last year,” said sophomore wing Jesse Milne, who scored a try in the second half. “And we are going to make the most of it.”

After Saturday, Cal needs only two more wins for another title. And with the Varsity Cup tournament featuring the winners of 31 of the last 33 collegiate national rugby championships, the task will not be easy.

“I think we are in a position to do well,” Bush said. “We are never satisfied in what we do.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org.

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But the memorable afternoon did not mask the team’s dissatisfaction with its performance. A lack of consistent possession on offense with momentary lapses on defense against a strong opponent made for the closest conference match the Bears had all season.

“It wasn’t our happiest performance, but they are a pretty good team and we won the game comfortably,“ said Cal coach Jack Clark. “We were just OK the whole day.”

Clark identified the size and strength of the Utes (7-4, 2-2 in the PAC Rugby Conference) as an area of concern for the Bears heading into the match, and Utah’s physicality in scrums and rucks proved to be a tough test.

Cal (18-0, 5-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference) jumped out to an early 17-0 lead on a penalty kick from fullback Jake Anderson and converted tries by center Seamus Kelly and flanker Michael Bush.

The Bears were not able to extend their lead, and in the final 15 minutes of the first half, Utah finished on a 17-5 run. The run included a try just before time expired, which cut Cal’s lead to 22-17.

But for the second week in a row, adjustments from the coaching staff and players at halftime helped the Bears secure the win. Second-half replacements Danny Barrett and Alec Gletzer provided the spark of energy that Cal lacked.

“I just wanted to be fresh legs and get as much work done as I can,” Barrett said. “Me and Alec had a couple of words with each other — we’ve got to be the difference-makers.

“It’s kind of like an unwritten rule almost that if you come on in a substitution role, then you’re the new guys. You’ve got the fresh legs; let’s see what you can do.”

The results were immediately evident on the scoreboard. In the first five minutes of the second half, the Bears responded with a penalty kick from Anderson and a converted try from wing Andrew Battaglia to push the lead to 32-17.

“I think the biggest problem is that we didn’t connect one momentum to the next momentum,” said Utah’s assistant coach Jon Law. “It was that first five minutes of the second half that really dictated the rest of the game.”

Utah’s physicality got the attention of the Bears, as the Utes were a strong opponent for a team preparing for the final stretch of the season.

“I love the competition that we had,” said Cal forward J.P. Hurrell. “Especially in the front row, I thought we really brought it today, and we really stepped our game up from last week and the weeks previous to this.”

The match also was a preview of a team the Bears could see in the postseason.

“I wouldn’t want to be a team facing them in the Varsity Cup,” said Kelly of the Utes. “I think they are building some momentum, so credit to them.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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But in extra time, the Bears got a break. Utah was called for a penalty and Cal sophomore Jake Anderson, who was filling in as kicker for the injured Alex Aronson, nailed a penalty kick, which gave the Bears the 23-22 win.

Thirteen months later, the two teams will meet again Saturday at 1 p.m. on Witter Rugby Field, in a late-season test for the Bears.

“We are expecting a good game,” said Cal coach Jack Clark. “I think we typically bring out the best in our opposition and we quite often see their most spirited play, and their best play. So I think Utah will be coming here with a thought they are going to beat us, and if not run us really close.”

After collecting the “World Cup” trophy after the team’s 38-6 win over the University of British Columbia, the team will have a chance to collect hardware in consecutive weeks; with a win, the Bears (17-0 overall) will clinch the first regular season championship awarded for the inaugural PAC Rugby Conference. Coming into the match, Cal is 4-0 in the conference, while Utah and UCLA are tied for second with 2-1 records, respectively.

“It will be good to go against a strong opponent in the conference,” said Anderson, now a junior on the team. “The goal is to win the game, win the conference, and to look ahead.”

Saturday’s match, which is the second-to-last regular season game for the Bears, will also be homecoming at Witter Rugby Field — the first that Cal has had the opportunity to host since 2010. All of the factors going the match, make for a big opportunity for the Bears.

“I think it is just really important that we build off of a good performance in Vancouver,” Anderson said. “And as we go into the thick-end of the season against some tougher competition that we just continue to get better and we build on what we’ve been doing and that will really show what this team is made of, if we keep improving.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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“I think we looked at this game as a real test of where we are as a team,” said Cal captain Seamus Kelly, after the match. “And I think we passed that test.”

The Bears (17-0, 4-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference) used a 32-0 run, including two tries from Kelly, to take home their seventh consecutive “World Cup” trophy at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, Canada.

“I think we did play a full 80 minutes today,” said Cal junior Jake Anderson. “It was a full team effort. It was a great team effort.”

The Bears were led individually by Anderson, who accounted for 18 points with his leg — 12 points on penalty kicks, and six points on conversions. “It felt good, I struck the ball well,” he said.

Kelly was complimentary of the play of his teammate. “We joking call him the iceman,” he said. “Because he always makes the important kicks for us.”

Sunday’s match was the second between the North American squads this season. In the first meeting, on Feb. 16, the Bears came away with a 28-18 win.

The first 40 minutes on Sunday were also close, as the two teams traded penalty kicks. Cal’s Jake Anderson converted three, while UBC’s Brock Staller converted two, giving the Bears a 9-6 advantage at halftime.

A converted try by Kelly, six minutes into the second half, gave the Bears a 16-6 lead. Cal then got a try from Jack O’Beirne, a penalty from Anderson, and then tries from Jared Braun and Kelly to round out the scoring.

In the two-match series between Cal and UBC, that began in 1921, the team finishing with the most points scored, wins the “World Cup” trophy. UBC last won the overall season series in 2006.

Sunday’s win extended the Bears’ consecutive win streak over the Thunderbirds to eight matches.

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Just like a quarterback in football, the scrumhalf directs a team’s offense. By receiving the ball cleanly from a scrum and strategically passing the ball to the six remaining players behind him, he allows the offense to run smoothly. If the scrumhalf drops a pass, hesitates or fails to find the best option, an offense can stall.

“Their ability to direct traffic and be a playmaker and be accurate in their own skills, because they touch the ball so often, is paramount to being a good team,” said Cal coach Jack Clark. “It is hard to be a good team without No. 9 playing well.”

So that is why last Saturday afternoon, when the Bears (15-0 overall, 3-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference) defeated Arizona, 80-14, a glaring outcome of the game was the loss of junior Paul Bosco to a season-ending injury. Bosco, who is expected to make a full recovery, started in the scrumhalf position for the Bears in their toughest match of the season so far, a 28-18 win over the University of British Columbia on Feb. 16.

Stepping in to fill the void is sophomore Nicklas Boyer. Boyer, who just made his first start with the varsity squad in late February against UCLA, also started the Arizona match at the scrumhalf position. But once Bosco went down, Boyer became the team’s top player at the position.

“Paul is a big part of this team, and I knew that I have to step up and take his place now,” Boyer said. “At first, it was a lot for me to think about. I spent the night on Saturday thinking about that, because Penn State was ranked No. 7 nationally, and I knew I had to step up for them, so it was definitely a big challenge for me to rise up to.”

And as Boyer proved in the Bears’ 100-0 win over Penn State on Monday night, he is more than adequate for the job.

“He’s plenty talented, and I think everyone that knows Nick thinks that he is going to be a great player,” Clark said. “I thought he played really well against Penn State, and he’s got the capability to play really well right now. But he is going to be a really good player in a couple of years.”

Although he won’t be starting at scrumhalf this weekend against Oregon State (2-3 overall, 0-1 in the PAC Rugby Conference), in the Bears’ remaining matches against three high-level opponents — the UBC, Utah and St. Mary’s College — Boyer is slated to be the starter.

Clark and Boyer’s teammates are confident that he will do just fine.

“He proved he can come into a big game and succeed,” said Cal senior and captain Seamus Kelly. “I think he has the experience to be able to handle the challenge we have ahead. I think it will be a personal challenge for him, but knowing him and how he’s succeeded in the past, he’ll be fine with it.”

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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Senior wing Josh Tucker scored five tries for the Bears (14-0, 3-0 in the PAC Rugby Conference), four of which came in the second half, to lead Cal to an emphatic win over the Nittany Lions.

“This is a glimpse of our potential as a team,” said Cal coach Jack Clark. “I am ecstatic about our performance.”

The turning point of the match came after Cal already had a 17-0 lead. Off of a Bears’ miscue, the Nittany Lions possessed the ball inside Cal’s territory. Then senior lock Danny Barrett received a yellow card, forcing Cal to play down a man down on defense.

But the Bears’ held and retained possession. Now on offense, they drove down the field into Penn State’s territory. Still down a man, Cal inside center Jared Braun forced his way through the Nittany Lions’ defense, and as he was being tackled, he tossed the ball to outside center Seamus Kelly who scored the try. After a conversion by Jake Anderson, the Bears took the 24-0 lead, and did not look back.

“I was pleased at that point,” Clark said. “We played good defense. There were a couple of times where we had to defend our goal line, to protect that shutout, and I am really happy those guys had that kind of pride that they wanted to protect their shutout.”

In addition to a strong offensive and defensive performance, Anderson finished the night 11-for-15 on conversions. He also converted a penalty kick in the first half.

The only major negative out of Monday night’s win for the Bears was that for the second match in a row a player had to be taken off the field with a serious leg injury. On Saturday, the Bears lost scrumhalf Paul Bosco, and on Monday night, senior wing Anthony Lombardo was injured and had to leave on a stretcher.

Stephen Hobbs covers rugby. Contact him at shobbs@dailycal.org

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