American River, Cal Maritime, Claremont Colleges, and University of San Diego all won this weekend in the California D1AA Conference, but the fashion of those victories varied widely.
USD put down a bit of a marker with a 109-0 shutout of a very capable Fresno State team.
“We appreciate Lee Garrow and the Bulldogs for making the trip and fighting hard for 80 minutes,” said USD DOR Kevin Eaton. “College rugby goes in ebbs and flows, and the last time we played Fresno state we were on the wrong side of a lopsided scoreline.”
Fullback Michael Lewis was USD’s player of the game, putting in an excellent 80 minutes, while new flyhalf Lucas Troughear was very effective. With Troughear taking on the #10 jersey, Lewis was able to move to fullback and exploit the open-field options.
That, said Eaton, “has done wonders for the USD attack.”
All 13 USD players who played as a forward ran the ball well and controlled matters at the gainline against a much larger Bulldog pack.
“You of course don't reach that scoreline without every member in the 23 doing their job, and the impact subs in the second half certainly did theirs,” said Eaton. “It was great to see Gavin Saville come on in the second half and record a hattrick, as he's been an underappreciated part of the Toreros’ recent success.”
Next up for USD is Claremont Colleges, and they recorded their third straight victory and their opening league victory.
This was a close one, 31-26 over Arizona State.
“ASU is a tough team,” said Claremont Colleges Head Coach Scott Bracken. “Our discipline was shockingly bad.”
Bracken had praise for referee Kirk Swanner and his consistency. But his players “didn’t heed what the ref was trying to tell us. That was totally on us and it made it much more difficult.”
Flanker Luca Milano was very good for Claremont, making plays on defense and in set piece and showing a good work rate.
So a clear work-on for Claremont as they look ahead to USD.
Scrumhalf Nick Laskowski continues to be a tough player to contain while Canadian 7s prospect Sam Brown was back in the lineup and a constant danger.
