The University of British Columbia defeated Cal 19-6 Saturday in the first leg of the team's annual two-game series.

In a sloppy game made more so by heavy rain, neither team could really get long periods of attack going. Cal probably had more promising first-phase chances, but repeated handling errors - poor passes, snatchy grabs at the ball - meant those chances often ended in a scrum for UBC.

The Thunderbirds, for their part, scored an early try through the forwards and added another not long after. They had a try called back due to a forward pass and came close to scoring a couple more times before touching down late to secure the victory. Cal missed three penalty kicks and perhaps were on the losing side of the kicking game all day.

The Bears got an injury blow in the first half when flanker Alec Gletzer went off. But they battled on and defended well most of the time. UBC was very good at slowing the ball down in the rucks, and received a few stern words from referee Kurt Weaver for it, but didn't get a yellow card until late in the game. 

Cal will be very disappointed with their accuracy, which spilled over into the lineout, where they misfired a few times early, and certainly affected their backline play.

The two teams face off again in Vancouver in March.