La Costa Canyon are now 4-0 in the Southern California Varsity Red San Diego division after the Mavericks beat Saint Augustine 22-13 this past weekend.

The Saints got off to the start they needed when they dominated possession almost exclusively for the first seven minutes of the game, playing structured rugby and recycling the ball well.  Ethan McVeigh, the Saints scrumhald, backed himself and crashed over in the corner for the opening score, but missed his own conversion attempt. The Saints continued to control the majority of possession and LCC was forced to maintain discipline and defensive structure. 

When LCC did manage to gain possession, they looked to play for territory and kick Saints back into their own half.  A dangerous tackle led to a yellow card against Saints, and from the resulting penalty, Ian Tarr crashed over to level the score. Nico Gilli made the difficult conversion from the corner to make it 7-5 LCC. The Saints hit back three minutes after the restart, when flyhalf and captain James Downey sliced through the LCC defense and scored in the corner. McVeigh missed the kick and it was 10-7 Saint Augustine.

The Saints continued to enjoy the majority of territory and possession, and LCC did well to defend a concerted goal line attack. With a minute left in the first half, Saints were shown two yellow cards, one for a dangerous tackle that made contact with the head, and a second when an illegal attempt to kick the ball loose as Will Roenker, the LCC fullback, finished a well-worked attack from first phase ball. Gilli made a second successful conversion and the half ended 14–10 in LCC's favor.

Even with only 13 players on the field, it was Saints who scored first when McVeigh slotted a penalty from in front of the posts and it was 14-13. Gilli kicked a penalty to take the game to 17-13.  The LCC loose forwards of Ian Tarr, Tre Stigall, and Niklas Lundqvist made their presence felt at the breakdown, forcing multiple turnovers.   Saints were under real pressure from a lineout on their own five-meter line.  LCC counter rucked on the Saints try line and Aiden Ryan picked and drove over to dot it down under the nose of the Saints forward pack.  That made it 22-13 for LCC, and that's how the score will be at full time.

Sebastian Rohrer and Mathew Macie stood out for Saints for their high work rate and committed ball carrying.  The LCC team effort in defense would make coach Reuben Spilken very happy.  With a penalty count of more than double that of LCC, and three yellow cards in the game, discipline will inevitably be a major concern for Saints coaching staff.

So this sets up a clash between two undefeated teams next week, as La Costa Canyon and Torrey Pines, both 4-0, face off to decide who is the #1 seed out of San Diego. Torrey Pines hosts LCC, and the game is slated to kick off at 7.00pm  Friday the Feb. 10.