West Coast Teams Test Themselves, Florida Tightens in College Action

01.29.2023College Men

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A really competitive conference, a team on tour, and some pre-conference warmups characterize this weekend in Men's D1A and D1AA rugby.

Florida

Paced by the leadership of flanker and captain Bear Bollinger, and with lock Chris Canty having a big game and scoring three tries, Florida State beat Florida 41-26. Florida threatened early but a turnover gave FSU some go-forward and the Seminoles ultimately earned a penalty at midfield. They took a lineout and Canty eventually picked up and scored.

Florida State's backs showed their pace and Sam Williams raced into the corner. But Florida has some power and pace, too, and in fact when their larger backs got going, the Seminoles were in trouble.

A nice backline move wide and then a cutback run got Florida a try, and then a big break up the middle set them up for a 12-10 lead.

But FSU retook the lead when Bollinger then broke through for a long-range score. Before halftime a long period of pressure resulted in another try for the Florida State skipper, this time off a quick-tap.

In the second half, Florida once again threatened early and once again didn't get the try they needed. Canty powered over on a pick-and-go and moments later punished a poor clearance kick. Suddenly it was 36-12. Florida didn't back down and scored twice to come within 10 points, but FSU blasted over for one more—Luca Marfella charging over.

Florida State wasn't the only team that won a game a week after losing. Central Florida did the same. As usual, this conference is very competitive. South Florida is the only 2-0 team and they had all they could handle in a one-point win over Florida Atlantic. FAU did well to contain USF's dynamic backs.

Florida CC	W	L	T	PF	PA	PD	BT	BL	Pts
South Florida	2	0	0	44	37	7	1	0	9
Florida International	1	1	0	65	52	13	2	0	6
Florida State	1	1	0	60	51	9	1	1	6
Central Florida	1	1	0	58	53	5	1	1	6
Florida	1	1	0	38	61	-23	2	0	6
Florida Atlantic	0	1	0	18	19	-1	0	1	1
North Florida	0	1	0	14	38	-24	0	0	0

Red River

In the opening weekend of this D1A conference, Texas won in somewhat surprising fashion over Baylor. Texas A&M and North Texas also won. Details here>>

Crossing Borders and Oceans

Saint Mary's is on tour in England and then Ireland, playing three of the more storied university teams in that region. Sunday the Gaels were edged by Cambridge University 24-17. This was a serious Cambridge team with six in the lineup that already had Cambridge Blues. The B-side match was also close, 19-14, and Cambridge won that one, too.

Central Washington swept both Western Washington and Trinity Western, 38-15 over WWU and 61-0 over the Canadian side Trinity Western.

"I'm really proud of our group playing two games in one day and showing growth from last week," said CWU Head Coach Todd Thornley. "Having the whole roster get playing time this early on is invaluable for us as we get into the season. We had some great moments and some poor moments so there's plenty to keep working on and preparing for another opponent next week. We will enjoy this day, then forget about it Monday and get stuck into another big week of prep."

Center Drew Farrington scored two tries vs Western Washington, while Connor Grande, Tiai Vavao, and Oscar Treacy all logged a brace in the other match.

Non-Conference

Cal beat UCSB 115-5 and there's not much more you can say about that, although Cal Head Coach Jack Clark praised UCSB's physicality and tenacity. Fullback Max Schumacher kicked eight conversions and scored a try for 21 points while Kealan O'Connell crossed the tryline three times and added four conversions for 23 points.

Utah met San Diego State in a neutral venue in Las Vegas and the Utes came away 67-5 winners.

The Utah forwards set the tone with some big carries and needed to as SDSU has had some warmup rugby, while Utah hasn't as much.

It's a young Utah team with a high percentage of freshmen and they needed this game.

"We have work to do to get these young guys playing together and creating the fluidity that comes with the experience of playing together," said Utah Head Coach Adam Griffee.

Also playing non-conference rugby was Cal Poly, which played a fellow California Conference team, but one in D1AA. Cal Poly won 69-8 and Head Coach Chris O'Brien called the game "a step in the right direction. It was a good team effort," and one that followed a big loss to Saint Mary's the week before.

UCLA blew out Stanford 86-3 in another D1A-D1AA game, while Santa Clara edged Sacramento State 36-31.

California Conference

The battle, as we have said, is likely for 2nd in the California. UCSC edged UC Davis 22-20 but there is a lot of rugby to be played in this conference.

(Standings corrected from original posting)

California Conference	W	L	T	PF	PA	PD	BT	BL	Pts
Saint Mary's	3	0	0	185	34	151	3	0	15
Cal Poly	1	1	0	55	105	-50	1	0	5
UC Santa Cruz	1	0	0	22	20	2	0	0	4
UC Davis	0	2	0	32	67	-35	0	1	1
UCSB	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Santa Clara	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CSULB	0	2	0	35	103	-68	0	0	0