Four games kick off 2026 for D1A collegiate rugby this weekend and they all carry some significant weight.
ARC at UC Santa Cruz
American River College will return to the California D1AA conference and this is a warmup match for the Beavers. They have chosen to compete against D1A team UC Santa Cruz.
Being a junior college, ARC has to rebuild more frequently than four-year schools. Head Coach Zach Swithenbank said his team is bigger and deeper in the forwards. They have a young backline but depth there, too.
They have been hard at work this fall and will be in a challenging D1AA conference. They already have a 38-35 win over Sac State from October.
UCSC already opened up their season with fairly lopsided losses to Saint Mary’s, UCLA, and Cal. In a way that could work in the favor of the Banana Slugs, as they can put those games behind them, take their lumps, learn from it, and just move on. They did play San Jose State, tying the Spartans 7-7, and Stanford, coming away with a 43-19 win.
So this will be a good test for both. Interestingly, ARC is starting to get players moving on to four-year schools after their experience at American River. This year we’ve seen Saint Mary’s, Sacramento State, Southern Virginia, Long Beach State, and Life University all welcome American River players on transfer after they completed their two years at ARC.
Cal Poly at Cal
Cal Poly played Cal in a January match last year as a quick replacement for the wildfire-canceled Storer Classic. (The Storer Classic is back for next week, which is good to see.) That match (Cal 57 Cal Poly 14) was played in San Luis Obispo, so this week we have the return clash in Berkeley.
Obviously the two teams saw a value in the game. It’s an excellent challenge for both teams early on. Cal Poly is already 2-0 in conference play, having beaten Sac State (four tries from Joseph Hodge and 32 points by Coby Baker) and CSULB (two from Hodge and 23 from Baker).
Captain Rand Santos will lead the Bears and receive help from a supporting cast which includes senior stalwart hooker Cade Crist up front and a reliable fullback Oliver Newall in the back. It will be the most important Cal match to date for new first choice players Alex Viera, Brice Muller, Ryan Wenstrom, Seamus Deely, Oliver Teague, and Nate Cominskey, along with a reserve bench full of debutants.
