Storer Classic This Weekend
Storer Classic This Weekend
UCLA comes off a solid 7s fall to host the Storer Classic Saturday. David Barpal photo.
For the 10th year UCLA hosts the Dennis Storer Classic, and once again their rivals, Cal, are the favorites.
The Storer Classic started in 2006 as a two-day 15s competition for then-Pac-10 teams. It continued as such until a PAC Rugby Conference was formed. Since then the tournament has been a chance for teams in the University of California system to assemble. The tournament is named after Dennis Storer, the first coach of the USA National Team in the modern era. A former UCLA head rugby coach, Storer was member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame thanks to his contributions to rugby as soccer. He received the Order of the British Empire in 1994, and received numbers awards and recognition for his work with at-risk youth, and in his work with the British community in Los Angeles, and his work with the 1984 Olympic Games.
This year, seven UC teams assemble at the UCLA campus: UCLA, Cal, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Riverside.
Cal has won the tournament every year, and in almost every year has faced UCLA in the final. But the tournament is about more than that.
“This is a really good chance for all of the teams, us included, to see what we’ve got and to work through those growing pains,” said UCLA and Tournament Director Scott Stewart. “For us, playing Cal every year, and also playing them more in 7s and in the Conference, has been great for us. Playing them has helped us improve as a team.”
For other teams, there’s not a lot of pressure. Cal and UCLA are expected to be the strongest, with others perhaps in a position to pull of a shocker here and there. But because of Cal’s strength, the teams can all use it as a learning experience. That’s a huge part of the weekend.
The teams play shortened games of 20-minute halves, with games being held both Saturday and Sunday.
