Berkeley, Calif. – In the first meeting of these two highly-regarded collegiate rugby programs since the 2016 Varsity Cup final, Cal defeated BYU 37-28 Saturday at Cal's Witter Rugby Field.

This was the first rugby game for Cal in almost 400 days, while BYU was coming off a tie with Central Washington and a defeat of Utah State.

"I really didn't know what to expect today having not played in a year, but I didn't expect us to look like we hadn't played in three years," Cal head coach Jack Clark said. "BYU deserves credit for what they put into that match."

Clark said earlier in the week that his team was "beyond rusty" going into the game, but the Bears started off pretty well, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead with tries from flanker Nick Severance and wing Nick Bloom. BYU responded, getting big prop McKay Johnson over and a conversion from Ezias Bigelow. The Cougars stayed close even as wing Marcus Shankland went over for Cal and Sam Walsh converted for a 17-7 lead. BYU replied with as inside center Taysan Hammer cruised in. Bigelow converted and it was 17-14. 

But as they do so well, Cal made a key move just before halftime. Shankland and then scrumhalf Ken Kurihara were over and the teams entered halftime with Cal now up 27-14. BYU had to respond, and that they did. Flanker Jacob Littlefield and then Hammer for his second, both tries converted by Bigelow, and suddenly the Cougars were ahead 28-27.

The upset was short-lived, however, as sub scrumhalf Max Clark zipped through at 62 minutes. Cal had the lead back, and Shankland made it a hat trick for him to ice the game with two minuntes to go. So, yes, 37-28, but it was a four-point game as time was winding down; BYU had a good chance to win this game.

Win or lose, of course, the victory was that we saw collegiate rugby in California for the first time in over a year.

"It was great to get some competition today," Shankland said. "Today wasn't a perfect performance, but in the final minutes, the forwards really buckled down. My tries always come down to the work from the rest of the team. I just do my best to finish off the gritty work that is done on the inside. It was a good win, but we've got a long way to go."

Cal 37
Tries: Shankland 3, Severance, Bloom, Kurihara, Clark
Convs: Walsh

BYU 28
Tries: Hammer 2, Johnson, Littlefield
Convs: Bigelow 4
 
Cal Lineup:
1. Owen Duvall 2. Nathan Zylstra 3. Michael Puckett 4. Sam Golla-c 5. Max Murphy 6. Garrett Kay 7. Jason Severance 8. Jake Broekhuizen 9. Ken Kurihara 10. Sam Walsh 11. Marcus Shankland 12. Gavin Janis 13. Seth Purdey 14. Nick Bloom 15. Max Schumacher
Substitutions:
Max Clark for Kurihara at 48; Cal Liebowitz for Purdey at 58; Charlie Walsh for Puckett 68; Luke Freeman for Broekhuizen at 68; Marco Caramanico for Kay at 78

BYU Lineup:
1. McKay Johnson 2. Devin Dunn 3. Billy Tenney 4. Ethan Angerbauer 5. Wyatt Brinkerhoff 6. Jacob Littlefield 7. Seen Tarawhiti-c 8. Bryce Tenney 9. Dylan Parry 10. Wyatt Parry 11. Kenyon Matua 12. Taysan Hammer 13. Brook Vaitohi 14. Tielu Sagala 15. Alma Schoenfeld
Substitutions: Hull, Mahe, Pauni, Johnston, Mortensen, Edlefsen, Bigelow, Olvera