Kore Chan/Staff

The Daily Cal sports staff looks back at the last year in Cal sports, and its most memorable moments.

Gracie Malley/File

1. Jeff Tedford let go following 3-9 season

He is the winningest coach in Cal history. His 11-year tenure restored the football program to a level of respectability not seen since the 1950s.

But in December, Cal Athletics decided to let Jeff Tedford go after a 3-9 season — his worst ever.

His firing seems justified, as the team has been overflowing with NFL-level talent that has not translated to wins on the collegiate gridiron in years.

As November rolled into December and 3-4 turned into 3-9, two words began to be whispered on the lips of Cal faithful everywhere: “It’s time.”

Time for Tedford to go.

But while his legacy is still sour right now, in time, he may very well be known as the man who restored Cal football.

After all, he took the team to eight bowl games. We won the Axe five years in a row. Nine of his 11 years featured winning seasons. And, most importantly, Tedford made the $321 million dollar renovation to Memorial Stadium possible.

Tedford may have been the architect of his own demise, as the expectations that exist now only came after his dominance in the early half of the decade. But in the end, he leaves the program with a greater chance at long-term success than it has had in decades.

— Riley McAtee

Gracie Malley/File

2. Cal athletes take home 17 medals at the Summer Olympics in London

When people think about Cal, they think, “No. 1 public university in the world.”

As seen from last summer’s 2012 London Olympics, however, this title encompasses Cal’s international prowess not only in academics but also in athletics.

Cal sent 38 athletes to compete at the London Olympics — the most for a public university and just two athletes shy of leading USC and Stanford — and in the span of 18 days, the Bears garnered 17 medals, 11 of which were gold.

The Bears showcased what is arguably one of the greatest Olympic performances across the nation in school history.

Every four years, Cal’s Olympians have been showing improvement over their previous performances at each of the summer Olympic Games. Since taking home seven medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Cal has either equaled or increased its medal haul, with 17 medals tying for the most they have ever won in Cal history.

Among those who earned medals in 2012 were former Cal athletes swimmer Nathan Adrian and soccer star Alex Morgan. While Adrian won three medals and two gold ones in London, Morgan led Team USA to a narrow 4-3 semifinal victory with a game-winning header, after which she earned her first gold medal in a 2-1 win over Japan.

If the trend persists, the Bears will continue to make a name for themselves on the international athletic totem pole in years to come.

 — Janice Chua

3. The Cal women’s basketball team makes an improbable run in the NCAAs

With Cal football faltering sans a bowl bid and Cal men’s basketball unable to leave a mark in the postseason last year, the Cal women’s basketball team’s historic season comes as a cathartic gust of fresh air to anyone parched to see the Golden Bears represented on national television.

Last season was a season of many firsts for Lindsay Gottlieb’s squad. On March 2, the Bears clinched their first Pac-12 title in program history. Four weeks later, they advanced to their first Elite Eight appearance and, soon after, their first Final Four appearance.

Between these three big shots of Cal athletics, we haven’t seen such levels of success since the men’s basketball team’s last Final Four appearance in 1960. Fifty-three years. That’s a long time for anyone to endure a triathletic drought.

And the best part is that this just might be start of something better. While the key seniors have left, this current squad is young and talented. While a Final Four encore in 2014 might be premature, the Bears look like they are reloading for another deep run in the March Madness in the next few years.

 — Seung Y. Lee

 Tony Zhou/Staff

4. Memorial Stadium reopens after 21-month long renovation

It’s good to be back.

After a year of football in AT&T Park, California Memorial Stadium finally reopened for the beginning of the 2012 season.

The historic stadium was vastly improved in a renovation effort that took nearly two years.

The facade was restored. The concourse was widened. The field was lowered to allow the first few rows to have a better view. Wheelchair seats were added. Wooden bleachers were replaced with aluminum ones. A new press box was built, and the list goes on.

But the most important improvement is one that fans will not readily see. The stadium sits on a major fault line and, thanks to remarkable engineering, is now earthquake-safe for fans. Essentially, three completely separate structures make up the stadium, allowing each piece to move freely in the event of an major earthquake.

Hopefully, nothing too drastic happens — but in any event, the stadium is prepared.

Of course, there was — and still is — controversy. No plan worth $321 million could come without it. And there are doubts that Cal Athletics’ funding plan will be able to cover the long term cost.

But right now, it’s just nice to not have to cram onto BART cars to make it to AT&T Park by noon.

 — Riley McAtee

5. Sonny Dykes hired as head football coach

A poor 3-9 season and a brand-new football stadium is certainly not a good mix. It ultimately cost Jeff Tedford his job, opening an opportunity for Daniel “Sonny” Dykes to move from Louisiana Tech to Cal as the next head coach.

Hired Dec. 5, Dykes is set on not just improving the record for the upcoming football season. He’s committed to scrapping the old, pro-style offense under Tedford for a new, unconventional air raid offense and to changing the culture of Cal football entirely.

A little more than a month removed from his Cal debut against Northwestern on Aug. 31, only a few things are certain about Sonny Dykes so far.

First, he’s a pretty likable dude. He has more personality than Tedford in front of the public. Second, his zany offense — “Bear Raid”, “Air Bears” or whatever other moniker it has earned from the fans — will be fun to observe. It’s safe to assume the scoreboard will be kept busy for next season.

But to win the collective heart of the Cal fanbase, it’ll take more than likeability and offensive potency. There’s only three words Dykes has to remember:

Just win, baby.

— Seung Y. Lee

6. Missy Franklin commits to Cal

If Cal women’s swim wasn’t already enough of a threat on the national leaderboard, now the team will have five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin to call its own.

On Oct. 20, 2012, the teenage swimming star committed to Cal after deciding between other top national swimming programs like USC and Georgia, which finished seventh and first, respectively, at the NCAA Championships this past year.

One month later, Franklin solidified her commitment to the Bears after signing the National Letter of Intent to join the Cal women’s swimming team this fall.

The impressive 18-year-old showcased her talent in the pool at the 2012 London Olympics last summer, winning a total of five medals, four of which were gold. Franklin swept the 100 and 200 backstroke events for Team USA, and the Colorado native will only add more natural talent to Cal’s deep swimming lineup.

Franklin will be joining other U.S. national swimming teammates, like Rachel Bootsma and head coach Teri McKeever.

Although the recent high school graduate turned down the opportunity to go professional straight out of high school, Franklin plans to compete on the collegiate scale for only two years, after which she will turn pro and train for the 2016 Olympics.

 — Janice Chua

Abel Barrientes/Courtesy

7. Rugby falls on final play of Varsity Cup

When you watch BYU’s Jonathan Linehan’s buzzer-beating, title-clinching drop-kick goal against the Cal rugby team in the National Championship game on tape, there is an eerie similarity to South African Joel Stransky’s extra-time kick in the 1995 Rugby World Cup finals.

In historical significance, Linehan’s kick pales in comparison to Stransky’s game-winner, which inspired countless documentaries and a movie starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.

But in a dramatic climax, they stand as near equals. Both games featured a David and Goliath. (Cal and New Zealand played the latter.) Both came down to the wire for an emotional finish that concluded in a drop-kick goal.

The loss was a bitter pill for Cal rugby and its fans; after three decades of unmatched domination, the Bears aren’t familiar with losses. Usually, no team takes the Bears to crunch time on a tied score.

But can you really say you didn’t appreciate seeing one of the finest endings in American collegiate rugby in recent history? Maybe, if you are a staunch Cal loyalist.

If that is the case, just look at the tape.

— Seung Y. Lee

Cal Athletics/Courtesy

8. Cal Athletics unveils massive redesign

New coach, new team, new era.

In April, Cal Athletics undertook a massive rebranding of Cal’s athletics — including a new logo, new font and new uniforms for nearly every team.

The theme for the redesign was “Respect the past, represent the future.” As such, the new update does not stray away from the traditional Cal script or blue and gold colors.

But that did not stop Cal Athletics from taking the look in a bold new direction. The new Bear logo is a snarling behemoth that is a definitive change from the more mild logos of Oski or the walking bear that Cal has used in the past. And the football team unveiled a new color, gray, which has never been used before.

Though the design is not loved by everyone, it accomplishes Cal Athletics’ primary goals of featuring a look that is universal and consistent among Cal’s various sports as well as being modern and well recognized — a trait that Cal Athletics argues could influence recruitment.

Despite any controversy, the Bears will charge into the next year with a new brand and updated identity.

 — Riley McAtee

9. Men’s golf upset in NCAAs after record-breaking season

The Cal men’s golf team amassed arguably the greatest season in collegiate men’s golf history this past year.

But the Bears finished the year without a national trophy.

After winning 11 out of 13 tournaments — breaking a record that has been in place since the 1970s — and topping the ranks at No. 1 for a majority of the season, Cal narrowly dropped the NCAA Championship semifinal match against Illinois after the 20th hole.

Then-senior Max Homa putted the ball standing seven feet away from the 20th hole, but failed to land the ball into the cup. The No. 5 seed Illinois took down the top-seeded Bears that weekend, 3-2, to end the Bears’ historic campaign. The NCAA Championship trophy eventually went to No. 3 Alabama, who defeated Illinois, 4-1.

Because the NCAAs were run on a match-play format, which emphasized individual performance on each day, instead of the normal stroke play, the Bears struggled more than usual.

But despite losing out on the title they were essentially working toward all year, there’s no doubt that the Bears compiled their greatest season ever.

“If it leaves a dent, it should be a very, very small one,” Homa said after the tournament. “We should be considered the best team of all time.”

 — Janice Chua

10. Cal football’s graduation rates and APR scores rank last in Pac-12

Maybe it was the nail in Tedford’s coffin. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

In 2012, the football team’s academics hit rock bottom. The Bears’ 47 percent graduation rate was the worst in the Pac-12.

Jeff Tedford tried to claim that the reason for the subpar rate was the many players that his program sent to the NFL each year. While there is some truth in this, it hardly tells the entire story.

In June, the NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate scores, and again, Cal football was in last place on the list. Since the APR report only takes into account academic standing — and doesn’t penalize programs for players who turn pro — it was clear that the academics of the football team were hurting.

The scores were so poor that the team is currently treading dangerously close to NCAA sanctions.

It is one thing to be terrible on the field, but in the classroom too? Ouch.

There is rampant speculation that those poor marks were a leading reason for Tedford’s dismissal in December, but we will never know for sure. At any rate, they certainly didn’t help.

 — Riley McAtee

The post The year that was: 2012-13 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Andrew Kuo/Staff

All in all, the past year has been an exceptionally successful season for Cal athletics. Over the past five weeks, Daily Cal sports have put together a top-10 list of all Cal’s 27 varsity sports based on the performance from last season.

No. 10: Men’s gymnastics

Derek Remsburg/File

“The rankings can be deceptive, but going beyond the numbers, there can be no mistake about it — the Cal men’s gymnastics team is one of the top programs in the country and has an incredibly bright future in front of it.”

No. 9: Women’s soccer

Kevin Foote/File

“This group had the ingredients to success written all over it: a posse of savvy seniors to lead the team, a strong freshman class — spearheaded by Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Ifeoma Onumonu — as well as a world class coach, Neil McGuire.”

No. 8: Men’s tennis

Kay Yang/File

“Considering that the Cal men’s tennis team started its season plagued with injuries, the squad’s No. 17 overall finish is pretty impressive.”

No. 7: Women’s tennis

Ashley Chen/File

“If the team can live up to the hype, it will be one of the best Cal teams in recent years.”

No. 6: Women’s crew

Cal Athletics/Courtesy

“In the past six years, the Bears have consistently placed in the top three of the overall NCAA Championships. ”

No. 5: Women’s basketball

Kelly Fang/File

“The women’s basketball team will be good — that’s for sure. But relative to their new expectations, which have skyrocketed in the past months, we don’t know if the Bears will meet the self-set benchmarks next year.”

No. 4: Men’s swim

Kevin Hanh/File

“In spite of last year’s slip from the pinnacle of college swimming, the men’s swim team has cemented its status as one of the few elite teams in the sport. It’s a label that few teams at Cal can boast.”

No. 3: Women’s swim

Kelly Fang/File

“With the addition of five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, the Bears won’t have anything to worry about for the next few years.”

No. 2: Rugby

Abel Barrientes/Courtesy

“Phooey on Wooden’s Bruins. To heck with Auriemma’s Huskies. Jackson’s Bulls, Auerbach’s Celtics and Stengel’s Yankees can all go take a hike. The Cal rugby team has won 26 national championships since 1980, and Jack Clark has been around for 22 of them.”

No. 1: Men’s golf

Dan Avila/Courtesy

“The Cal men’s golf team had one of the greatest seasons of all time. In any sport. Ever.”

The post Power rankings of all Cal’s sports: a summary appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Just last month, the Bears were defeated on a last-second drop-kick in the finals of the Varsity Cup against Brigham Young University.

But it didn’t take long for the Bears to return to the top.

In the championship match of the Collegiate Rugby National Championships Sunday, Cal defeated Life University, 19-14, to claim the team’s first sevens national title.

“It’s special to have a chance to be the first in the long history of Cal rugby,” said captain Seamus Kelly. “It’s a great win for the program and our guys.”

The Collegiate Rugby Championship is a 20-team tournament featuring the top collegiate sevens teams from across the country. Each team is only allowed seven players to a side — as opposed to 15 players during the spring season.

With fewer players on the field, the game is more wide open. And with fewer minutes in a match, there is less time for Cal to wear down the opponent. Instead of 40-minute halves in the 15s, each half is only seven minutes.

Despite the difference in format, Cal was still led by its most experienced players.

The Bears got two tries from senior Danny Barrett, who was playing his last game as a Cal rugby player.

Barrett’s play was especially strong for the Bears throughout the weekend. He also scored three tries in Cal’s semifinal match against UCLA.

“Danny really stepped up,” Kelly said. “He had an unbelievable tournament.”

But so did Kelly. He was named the most valuable player of the tournament that took place at PPL Park in Philadelphia, Penn. And his second-half try against Life proved to be the match-winner.

Cal also had added experience in its lineup for the weekend. Ahmed Chehade and Brad Harrington both returned from injury to play major minutes for the Bears. Chehade had not played since February, and Harrington had been out since September.

But even with the additions, the Bears still brought a similar style of play from the 15s season to their match against Life. In the semifinals, the Running Eagles took down Navy, 43-7. But the Bears used a methodical approach of attacking one-on-one matchups in the finals to contain Life’s strong offense.

And for the Bears, the past CRCs have been a frustrating.

In the inaugural tournament, Cal finished as the runner-up in 2010. In 2011, the Bears were knocked out in the quarterfinals. And last season, the Bears won the third-place match.

Sunday’s win over Life was just one of many during the tournament’s three days.

Following wins over Virginia Tech, Kutztown and Temple in group play, the Bears were the No. 1 seed headed into the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Sunday, the Bears defeated Arizona and UCLA — two teams that Cal faced during the spring season.

And against Life, the team the Bears beat for third place last year, Cal had just enough for its sixth win of the weekend.

“Ultimately, it comes down to effort and how bad you want to get it done,” said Cal junior Jake Anderson. “It is so special to send our seniors out that way.”

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

The post Cal rugby secures first-ever sevens championship appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Henry Ascencio/File

For the Cal rugby team, 2013 was a season of redemption.

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

The post Despite championship loss, Cal rugby moves in right direction this season appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The comeback kids always hit their stride in the second half.

Twenty-one wins were forged on halftime adjustments — tweaks that turned those lingering close games into routs. Three weeks ago, Cal trailed St. Mary’s by 15 at halftime only to turn the tables and waltz to an easy win. Not every game was a tale of two halves, but in those that were, the second halves always belonged to the blue and gold. Why would the national championship be any different?

It hurts to get so close to the top of a mountain only to tumble off just inches from the peak. After stifling a blizzard of BYU attacks in a tie game in the waning minutes, a mere dropkick befell the Bears. Seconds later, the whistle blew. 27-24. Game over. Season over. Twenty-one wins. And one stinkin’, heart-wrenching, soul crusher of a loss.

It sucks to lose. It sucks even more when you’ve made a habit of winning. Consolation is a cruel reward.

But damn, don’t let this overshadow everything else the Cal rugby team did this year.

If a team’s entertainment value is measured by its margin of victory, the Bears were astoundingly boring this year. Cal didn’t win a single match all year by single digits. Coach Clark, the professor of process, trains his team not to look at the scoreboard. It’s a luxury only teams like Cal can afford. Even in Clark’s most lopsided wins, he maintains a critical eye.

On Jan. 26, the Bears beat Stanford, 176-0. So, how did you think your boys did, Coach?

“I thought we did OK.”

UBC was supposed to be a challenge. Cal won the “World Cup” by a total of 42 points. Utah was supposed to be a challenge. Cal won by 22. Navy was supposed to be a challenge. The Bears throttled them, 74-6.

Those results could have been worse. Penn State was the only other fearsome foe Cal faced from across the Mississippi. The Bears won that matchup, 100-0.

There will be another national championship played this year under the aegis of the fading collegiate format that is USA Rugby. In the coming weeks, there might be debate over which of the two championships is the “real” one. There shouldn’t be. Saturday’s matchup was clearly contested between the two best teams in college rugby.

It was the first time all year Cal played a game that was still being contested late in the second half. BYU’s team not only rolled with Cal’s punches — it fought back.

It was unlike anything the Bears had seen this year. Down 19-10 halfway through the second half, Jack O’Beirne converted try cut the lead to two. BYU promptly answered with a try of its own. Seamus Kelly’s try with six minutes left helped the Bears tie the game, but it was Jonny Linehan’s fluttering dropkick that sounded the game’s final note.

Maybe the Bears just needed to play more close games. Or maybe collegiate opponents aren’t enough of a challenge for them anymore. The Cougars’ two losses came to strong club teams. Perhaps the bitter taste of defeat was what galvanized them.

The cards were stacked against the Bears, but you won’t see any Cal players attributing their play to BYU’s raucous home field advantage, nor the slew of injuries that stripped the team of a good chunk of its senior talent. No, the Bears will attribute this loss to sloppy play and a lack of precision. As a result, BYU gets the glory.

Would the Bears have won if they’d been fully healthy? We’ll never know. So it goes with sports. You give it your best with the best you are given and hope that’s enough to beat the other guys. Cal’s best, even without several of the top players in the country, was good enough to beat the other guys 21 times this year.

It just wasn’t enough on Saturday.

Chris Yoder covers rugby. Contact him at cyoder@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.

The post Don’t let Varsity Cup loss eclipse Cal’s triumphs appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Abel Barrientes/Courtesy

Just when it looked like the Cal rugby team had a chance to pull off another come-from-behind victory in the team’s biggest game of the year, the Bears came up just short.

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

The post Cal rugby loses to BYU, 27-24, in last seconds of Varsity Cup final appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Tao/File

The Cal rugby team has not only overcome each challenge it’s faced this year, but it’s bowled through them all with impunitive force.

But Cal’s noon matchup against BYU on Saturday won’t be like all the others.

Forget the 176-0 walloping of Stanford — Cal’s largest win ever — and the three other triple-digit wins over some of college rugby’s most esteemed opponents.

Forget the “World Cup” — the pair of hard-fought wins over British Columbia that should have been close but turned into routs of Cal’s ancient rival.

Forget the ease with which the Bears won the PAC Rugby Conference championship in its inaugural year, winning its five conference games by an average of 60 points.

Forget the undefeated regular season and the spotless 21-0 record. The gap between Cal and every team it faced was a veritable chasm.

It was all just a prelude for Saturday’s main event.

The Varsity Cup National Championship between two gritty juggernauts in Provo, Utah, will be the definitive yardstick in one of Cal’s more impressive seasons in recent memory. The capstone in what has been a historic season for the Bears will be the hardest piece to place.

“They’re a very, very talented team,” says Cal coach Jack Clark of the Cougars. “They’re well-coached, and they’ll be playing at home in front of a large, partisan crowd.”

Since USA Rugby began crowning national champions in 1980, the two squads have stood head-and-shoulders over the college rugby world — particularly in recent years. Only five times in the last three decades has a team other than Cal or BYU won the national title. No other team has won since 2003.

As the 21st century unfurled, Cal-BYU became an annual event. From 2006-11, the two teams squared off for the national championship six years in a row, with the Bears winning all but one of them.

But unlike Cal’s championships of preceding years, for which scorelines tended to favor Cal quite generously, BYU became the rare team that could play the Bears in a nail-biter. Four of those six championship games were decided by 12 points or less. Two were decided by just three.

This year’s matchup could be similarly close.

The Cougars (11-2) have marauded through their 15s schedule with Cal-like cunning, ruthlessly dispatching all their opponents except for two club teams. Since their new stadium, South Field, was renovated in 2008, the Cougars have never lost a home match against collegiate competition.

“(It’s) a really hostile atmosphere with the fans there,” said Cal senior Seamus Kelly. “It’ll be a major challenge.”

But the championship is more than a mere battle between two of the country’s best teams.

Saturday’s matchup will be the first final in the inaugural Varsity Cup, a collegiate competition that arose out of the dust of a crumbling USA Rugby, which saw its talent pool diluted after the flight of its top two members.

The Varsity Cup consists of just eight teams this year, but it includes the two programs that matter the most.

“It’ll really be a steep challenge for our boys,” Clark said. “But for what it matters, we’re looking forward to it.”

Chris Yoder covers rugby. Contact him at cyoder@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.

The post Cal rugby faces stiff test in BYU for Varsity Cup National Championship appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Michael Tao/Senior Staff

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 cyoder@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.

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The undefeated Cal rugby team beat the Naval Academy 74-6 in the Varsity Cup Semifinal game Saturday afternoon. Cal will face Brigham Young University on Saturday in the national championship.

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Matt Lee/File

After traveling across the country last week, the Cal rugby team will be back at the friendly confines of Witter Rugby Field Saturday afternoon.

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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