This was another exciting weekend in college rugby. The score lines this last weekend solidified standings for some teams and raised questions about others. Here are some notable matchups from last weekend. Cal handled UCLA 66-12. Central Washington fell to Trinity Western in a low scoring match, 10-14. Cal Poly demolished Santa Clara 78-21. Finally, Grand Canyon beat Utah 50-5 in Phoenix.
A few quick thoughts about those matches.
Central vs. Trinity Western:
First the Central Washington match. This was a surprising loss to me as Central has beaten Trinity Western sizably in past seasons. According to the Trinity Western website, Saturday marked the first win ever for Trinity Western over CWU.
There was a lot of kicking in the first ten minutes of the match. Trinity Western was able to find grass on most of their kicks, but their kick chase really wasn't strong which gave the Wildcats time to string together some nice counter attacks. However, Central threw away some great attacking opportunities with offloads that didn't go to hand and penalties in the ruck. A penalty by Central led to the first three points of the match by Trinity. Central scored next, in the 23rd minute, after kicking to tough on a high tackle penalty. In that sequence Central patiently worked the ball across the field and found space on the edge. A hard charging run at midfield really put them on the front foot and created numbers out wide for the try. It was the best the Wildcat attack had looked at that point in the match.
Central committed another costly penalty, which allowed Trinity to take a 6-5 with just 30 seconds before half time. But the Wildcats refused to go into halftime behind. They strung together some gutsy play and the Wildcats fullback grounded the ball (perhaps questionably), to make it 10-6. Trinity came out swinging, scoring a try just 35 seconds into the second half. This try was a result of a poorly taken restart by the Wildcats. Trinity solidified their lead with penalty kick in the 70th minute, which put them up 14-10. In the final ten minutes, Central worked their way down to the five meter line and earned a penalty. They elect the tap and go. It seemed inevitable that they would score. But, handling errors plagued them again as a hard runner coughed up the ball inches away from the try line. Another knock on in the 76th minute, neutralized their attack. The Wildcats get one final crack at it.... you guessed it: a third and final knock on.
This game raises some question about the Central Washington Wildcats this year. I will say that Trinity Western did seem like a very solid side with a well executed game plan. But ultimately, this match was just heaps of missed opportunities for the Wildcats; handling errors and penalties were their demise. Central Washington needs to take advantage of their opportunities against Arizona this weekend and tighten up their ball handling. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a very close matchup.
Cal vs. UCLA:
Cal really dominated time of possession and territory in the first half, but they did show some chinks in their armor. They spent the first five minutes of the match knocking on the tryline before finally scoring in the sixth minute. They had a fair number of opportunities to score but just couldn't finish. Turnovers and penalties kept them out of the try zone. The Bears could've easily been up 35 points if they had executed. Instead they found themselves up 14-0 twenty minutes into the match, which is a respectable margin, but they left some points out there.
UCLA made some kicking mistakes the forfeited their attacking opportunities. In the first twenty minutes, two critical kicks for touch stayed in bounds, and it wasn't even close. With nineteen minutes left in the first half, the Bruins missed a kick for touch from the attacking 35 meter line. If the kick had found touch, it would've been a lineout for the Bruins very close to the tryline. With sixteen minutes to go, UCLA finally found touch inside the 22, only to overthrow the lineout. UCLA rarely had the ball. When they did, they weren't able to piece much together.
The Bruins did score two tries against a tough Cal defense. With 26 minutes left, they worked patiently with the forwards and got over the line. UCLA's second try came off a stolen restart and some beautiful hands. A nice offload from the hooker to the inside center put them over the line in the corner. UCLA really needed a few more moments like these, but struggled to get positive carries and keep the ball.
The Bears were true to their style of play. They held the ball for as may phases as it took for the Bruins defensive integrity to deteriorate. Even when they made mistakes, they got the ball back and waited for holes to appear. I was impressed by the structure of their attack. There were a number of early line breaks created by a forward giving the ball out the back to a backline player at pace. The Bears created some exciting attacking opportunities from that.
Cal made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the first half but still went into halftime up 31-0. This just shows how dangerous Cal can be if they can fix some of those handling errors. They really looked solid across the board. The lifeblood of their attack is possession. Cal is willing to play out of any area on the field and will hold the ball as long as they need to for space to open up.
For the Bruins, this was a big learning experience. They had a few glimmers of hope, but really need to increase their physicality if they want to be a contender. Cal dominated UCLA in contact and in the scrums. That made it tough for UCLA to find their shape on attack and defense. Hopefully the Bruins can turn things around against GCU this Saturday.
Cal Poly vs Santa Clara:
Not much commentary on this game. This was a game that I fully expected Cal Poly to win, but once again I was surprised be the margin of victory. Cal Poly has looked much better than they have in past seasons, managing to keep it reasonable with BYU and then smashing some weaker opponents. They seem to be team that is rapidly improving. I think Cal Poly will put up a really good fight against some of the teams they have left on their schedule. I wouldn't be surprised to see them take it down to the wire with UCLA at the end of the spring season.
Grand Canyon vs Utah:
Also not much to say about this one. The Lopes really controlled this game against an unstructured Utah team. There were a lot of handling errors from both teams, really a hard game to watch for that reason. I'm sure the Lopes will look to fix that headed into a big weekend. GCU does have some solid athletes in their backline. It'll just be a matter of putting together the pieces. I'm interested to see how GCU will fair against UCLA this Saturday. This should be a pretty even matchup if GCU can maintain possession.
Upcoming matches:
We have another riveting weekend of college rugby coming up. This weekend Cal takes on BYU, GCU plays UCLA, Arizona plays Central, Lindenwood plays Mary Washington. All of these will be exciting matches. Arizona and Central will be the game of the week on The Rugby Network. That has the potential to be a close match. Both teams have struggled to find their identity on attack so far this season. In terms of GCU and UCLA, I tend to lean towards UCLA on this one. From other matches, their attack looks sharper and they seem more physical than GCU. I'm expecting Lindenwood to win over Mary Washington. However, don't sleep on Mary Washington. They're a solid squad and could keep it tight.
Acknowledging my bias, I won't make any predictions about BYU vs Cal. In my opinion, that will be the most exciting match to watch this weekend. BYU will be seeking some revenge for the 2023 D1A Western Semifinal game, in which Cal ended BYU's championship hopes. The history between these two teams and their physicality should make for a defensive battle. Inevitably, Cal will try to starve BYU of possession. But, the Cougars are known for their staunch defense. If BYU can maintain their defensive shape through 10 plus phases, they will make things very tough for Cal's attack. In a nearly even physical matchup, mental errors (penalties, decision making, and handling) will largely determine the outcome. This is a matchup, I can't wait to watch.
Best of luck to all the teams suiting up this weekend!
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