Cal Rugby wins national championship again

[sohotrightnow]

They beat a very talented BYU squad 29-26.

That's three in a row, 15 of the last 16, and 22 of the 27 titles awarded since the collegiate tournament began.

Well done lads.

[Sonny]

They beat a very talented BYU squad 29-26.

That's three in a row, 15 of the last 16, and 22 of the 27 titles awarded since the collegiate tournament began.

Well done lads.

cool..... Link?

Wonder how their coverage media/online compares to ours?

[Bluevelvet]

They get major media coverage in the SF Bay Area every spring because of the local angle (Cal's dominance).

http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-rugby/recaps/050606aad.html

Cal Takes 22nd Title in Nailbiter

Defeats BYU, 29-26, for National Championship

May 6, 2006

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Cal more than met the challenge against a favored BYU team today, coming away with a 29-26 victory to make the Golden Bears 2006 national champions.

Junior Lock Louis Stanfill was named tournament MVP after Cal held off a late charge to preserve a three-point win over Brigham Young and hoist its 22nd championship in the 27 years the award has been given.

"We knew going in that this was going to be a barnburner," Stanfill said. "This was going to be down to the wire. Down to the last minute we knew it was put our guts on the line or lose, and I think we put our guts on the line."

[sohotrightnow]

They get major coverage. The nation (for the most part) knows about Cal's dominance in rugby. Cal even defeated the best club team (NYAC) in the nation this year.

Here is an article from SI.com last year about the team

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/s ... index.html

Here is an article about the status of the team vis-a-vis varsity vs. non-varsity

http://www.goffonrugby.com/EagleEye/eagleeye093004.htm

Two articles on why Stanford would not play Cal in rugby in 2001 (they were afraid they would get injured):

http://cyberbears.org/links/stanfurd/ru ... mails.html

http://www.stanforddaily.com/tempo?page ... 01_article

I love this paragraph especially...

Dear Franck:

On behalf of the University of California rugby program we acknowledge receipt of your March 14, 2001 forfeit of the Cal v. Stanford fixture slated for April 7, 2001 at Stanford. As I have shared previously, my personal disappointment is immense. To cancel a match that has been played through the Great Depression and World Wars is a consequential decision. This unease must also be felt in the Stanford student body, alumni and athletic administration. We were hopeful that respect for this tradition would prevail in your Rugby Foundation meeting of the 10th of March, but are understanding of their position. How can you demand that a team contest a match, if the team doesn't want to? I'm sure it is a position that these proud individuals could never have contemplated.

In addition, the new movie "Flight 93", features an actor playing former Cal rugby player, Mark Bingham.

http://www.sffog.org/marktribute.html

[Bluevelvet]

San Francisco Chronicle
Cal, barely, holds on to rugby crown
Bears fend off Cougars' surge

Sunday, May 7, 2006


It was a match that figured to test Cal's dominance of collegiate rugby. Test, it did -- but as usual, the Bears were up to the task.

The Bears held off a late charge by a physical, talented BYU team, winning their third consecutive national title Saturday with a 29-26 victory in front of 4,250 spectators at Stanford's Steuber Rugby Stadium.

Cal (22-1) has won 22 national titles in the past 27 years, and this may have been one of its most difficult challenges. Though Cal was the tournament's top seed, second-seeded BYU came in as the No. 1-ranked team, unbeaten in 11 games and stocked with big, physical players whose average age is 24.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/07/SPGAMIN1VJ1.DTL