Cal rode a strong second half to beat UCLA in the PAC Rugby Conference opener, and the Golden Bears followed that up with a defeat of NSCRO team Cal Maritime.

UCLA battled and held Cal to a 12-0 lead at halftime, before the Bears opened up to win 59-7.

"We certainly want to acknowledge UCLA for their performance," said Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. "They are a good group and they really made it difficult on us at times. We wish the Bruins the best going forward and we'll now turn our focus to Arizona."

In the match against UCLA, lock Max Muphy went over in the opening five minutes, and his second row partner, Sebastien Bader, added on 12 minutes later, this one converted by Ethan Greene, for th 12-0 lead. But UCLA's defense held firm for the remainder of the half.

But in the second half, senior Keanu Andrade came on for the final 29 minutes and scored three tries in that span. Junior Marcus Shankland also collected a pair of tries, while scrumhalf  in the 43rd and 77th minutes. Senior Ken Kurihara, who came on at flyhalf (usually he's a flyhalf) converted five of the final six Cal tries, while Jason Severance and Nick Bloom also touched down.

"I felt we had a lot more energy today than the first time we played UCLA, but it was frantic in the first half," said junior Jack Manzo. "We didn't sort out ourselves until the second half, but once we did that, everything came into place."

"It was definitely a bit of a change from playing 9, but I'm happy to now have a game under my belt," added Kurihara. "It was certainly a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to another important week coming up."

Cal 59
Tries: Murphy, Bader, Andrade 3, Shankland 2, Severance, Bloom
Convs: Greene 2, Kurihara 5

UCLA 7
Tries: Bercik
Convs: Barry

Cal then played a difference lineup for a 60-minute game against Cal Maritime. Cal had eight different try-scorers, including four (and three un a row) from sophomore Zach Neff and debut tries from freshmen Miles Beaubelle, Marco Caramanico, and Alex Aguero, as well as sophomore transfer Matthew Goena.

Cal won 109-0.

"We have many things to improve on as a team and we have a week to make it better. UCLA gave us a good match and we appreciate them making the trip up," said freshman Max Schumacher