As we look ahead to this weekend in D1A rugby, it's kind of a rare thing at this time of year to see Cal idle.

The Golden Bears had expected to play University of British Columbia in the first leg of their annual two-game series, but it has been canceled. The difficulties for UBC to come over the border (and get back again), along with other complications made the series untenable for the Thunderbirds. That cancelation happened too late to fill the weekend with someone else.

Like a lot of college coaches, Cal Head Coach Jack Clark wants to map out his fixtures and find ways to get his players meaningful and challenging games. COVID-related cancelations have undercut that a little, as has Cal Maritime's refusal to pay USA Rugby fees in order to be eligible to play. With time those games can be, in some way, replaced, but, Clark told Goff Rugby Report, "there's no way to sugarcoat it, losing the UBC games hurts. UBC asks questions of you that need to be asked. They push the ref. They play a little bit of a different game. They play with the senior teams in British Columbia who are cagey and they understand that game. So those games are valuable to us for our growth."

Clark said he's got the players working hard and getting fit and installing their systems, but "from a development standpoint you can't replace those 80 minutes against UBC."

(And it's also valuable for those who don't even play. Witness the photo above, with the players on the sideline rapt as they watch one of Cal's more challenging opponent. In addition, it's a big event on-campus for the team—the alumni come out for this game like no other save perhaps Saint Mary's.)

Cal has been using the return leg in BC as a chance to find out what some younger players can do. You can perhaps replace that game with another tough opponent, but Clark said it's the variety that is the spice of the rugby season.

"BYU, Saint Mary's, Arizona are all really good, but you need all of them and you need a bunch of other games," he said. Scheduling Saint Mary's a second time might mean they end up playing three times in the season, Clark, it seemed, didn't want that. "If you play three times what does that do to a cool thing, the rivalry we have? He said. There's a chance we'll play them later on, so how many is too many? three times is probably on the border."

Cancelations can also make having fixtures problematic. Cal has UC Santa Barbara scheduled on January 29 and they were rightly concerned UCSB might not make the game—the Gauchos had had to pull out of the Storer Classic after all. So Cal schedyuled the San Diego Legion U23s as well and decided to run out their most experienced 15 against that team. The result was a comfortable win over Santa Barbara, and a 120-0 shellacking of the Legion Academy.

Clark said there was no way to know how that weekend would go until it happened.

"San Diego are a bunch of big dudes," he said. "They put in a good effort and we're grateful they came and we put a good team on the field, were pretty sharp, and we played pretty clean."

Speed and fitness probably undid the Legion team, but speed and fitness are crucial. 

"Saint Mary's will run you off the park," said Clark. "So we're going to be fit." 

But he added that the Legion team offers a chance to play for players who wouldn't otherwise get that competition. As on a different level with Cal v UBC—how are you going to get better if you don't see the level?