Getting Pretty High on a Mixed Lineout
Wait why is our wing playing flanker and our 8 is a scrum-half??
Kathy Flores in a much better mood + our 8-man in USF colors (again..confusing)
Motley Team Picture...damnit I shoulda just taken public transit!
Alas..so what did I do with my Saturday plans down the drain? Go to another rugby game of course! I was kinda on the fence because the UCB vs UBC match cost money which isn't something I have a whole lot of so I ended up biking over to Witter Field rather late (but beating most of traffic...wee for cycling). I figured I'd try and sneak in with the whole 'I look like a teenage/middle school boy' thing. I get to the front door and they're checking school ID's so no dice and I don't have cash and they don't take card. I'm missing kickoff and everything (2 national guard choppers are flying overhead the anthem is sung and I'm sure the Cal band did something fancy). So I'm bummed and trod off to find an ATM, 15 minutes later I drag my butt back up the hill and they've closed off the gates. No more ticket sales, no more admission with a crowd of about thirty still trying to wheedle their way in. At this point I'm pretty much like 'are you shitting me?!'. Then some nice older gentleman walked up to the gates and said that he had a spare free ticket if anyone wanted it. I raised my hand and walked right in for free (no atm money needed)! I spent the first half mostly peeking through the clump of people bunched at the top of the bleachers. At half time I snag a perfect seat next to a nice older gentleman and all is well. The program was nifty, you couldn't hear what the announcer was saying at all and both teams played pretty exciting rugby.
Cal put the pressure on UBC early on through a number of successful penalty kicks although UBC seemed to have an easier time putting tries on the board. At first Cal's beefy forwards looked to counter-ruck and generally manhandle their UBC opposite numbers but this enthusiasm quickly vanished as the game wore on. Throughout the game there was a high number of penalties and infringements. Cal fell asleep at the beginning of the second half and got in a rather uncomfortable position being down 14-15 for most of the half. During this phase in the game it felt like Cal was kicking away possession when they needed to keep it in hand and work through the phases. It appeared to me that Cal's forwards were struggling to break the gainline when running the ball which left the backs to play a bit of footy for territory. Unfortunately UBC's back three were quite suave under the high ball and had big boots of their own, for a good long chunk the Cal Bears were deprived of the ball almost completely. UBC made great punching runs and broke the gainline consistently and had a very slippery wing whom Cal struggled to get into touch. It was only through some great effort by Cal's wing that the bear woke up and turned up the gears against the Canadian Thunderbirds. Cal eventually won it 31-15 but in reality the game was much closer then that. Both teams subbed a fair number of players late in the second half when most of the tries were scored which may be indicative of the turnaround.
My view from the stands:
The National Guard Rugby...uh truck.
The crowd, while it was at full capacity was rather quiet. A few people tried to crank up the atmosphere but it wasn't Millennium Stadium by any means. UBC's section managed to get pretty vocal. After the match I figured I'd get a few autographs because heck why not...they put a section in the program and all. I got Chris Biller's signature because hey he's a hooker and goff seems to like him a lot. There was a ton of different media sources swarming the players after the event, tv interviews, radio journalists, and paper hounds which was pretty nifty. Oh while I was there I saw Rikus Pretorius and got his autograph as well. Bleh...nerdy but whatever. It's kinda weird 'cause I think I'm older then both of em. Oh well it was still fun and I'd have regretted the opportunity if I hadn't gone for it. It's kind of weird really because now I play for a team where a good majority of the players are of international caliber and...they're my teammates. It'd be kinda like being plopped in the middle of the Justice League Headquarters or something. It's just odd.
Oh well prom dress rugby tomorrow. I think I'm relying on good old fashioned public transportation to get to Treasure Island tomorrow. Lovely really, I get to bart to SF to bus back across the bridge to TI. It ought to be fun, come out if you can.
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