The idea that the USA and Canada should cooperate in developing high-level rugby extends past the national teams, and certainly has a place in the collegiate game; witness then this past weekend's clash between Canadian champions UBC and USA runners-up (spring 2022) Saint Mary's.
As expected, this game was intense, thumping, and close. Played on the eighth day of a nine-day series of rainstorms in California, UBC at Saint Mary's was a back-and-forth slog which the Thunderbirds won 33-28. Certainly UBC had trouble staying out of penalty trouble early and realized, as most good teams do, that complaining about it doesn't really help, and so they adjusted some things.
The result was the 'Birds turned a 21-19 halftime deficit into a 33-28 win. Despite being penalized more than the Gaels, UBC scored at least twice on quick taps and perhaps made penalties work a little better for them.
For Saint Mary's, territorial dominance in the first half, and generally a series of positive outcomes for what they did most of the time put them in front. They probably needed to prevent those little periods where UBC scored quickly. Down 14-7 the Thunderbirds took a scrum thanks to a not-straight lineout and attacked left. A penalty was tapped quickly and soon the Thunderbirds were on the Saint Mary's tryline, where referee Tim Lew called a penalty try as the Gaels tried to prevent the score.
A few minutes later a superb break from scrumhalf Jack Carson, who was excellent all day, set UBC up to go wide and score to make it 19-14. The Gaels responded well wit a run from Dom Besag and after a few phases the freshman capped it off. Flyhalf Joe Yacoubian converted the tough angle in the mud for the lead.
But the second half started more in UBC's favor and that period from minute 40 to about 60 was a period the Gaels would have wanted back. Carson and hooker Jacob Bossi were both very strong for the Thunderbirds. Carson's break and try under the posts gave his side the lead and a brilliant pass from center Takoda McMullin set up wing Tenniel Cowen for the try.
It all settled down for the next 30 minutes or so with no scoring. The Gaels' finally did maul a try over late but couldn't catch UBC.
"It was awesome to play them," said Saint Mary's Head Coach Tim O'Brien. "It sets us up pretty well for Cal Poly this week. The conditions were very difficult and that's probably reflected in some of the stats, such as turnovers and mishandling the ball. But it was fantastic to play them and host them."
