After a week where we had one college game, here's a look at a slightly busier slate for this week.
UCSB kicks off their conference season at Stanford in the California D1AA conference; Saint Mary's continues their season with a game against the SFGG club; Central Washington opens up their season with a club opponent, as well, Seattle in this case.
But the vast majority of the games will be on the campus of UCLA with the annual Storer Classic, which is now almost 20 years old. The format of this tournament has changed a little bit over the years and has now settled into a format where all the matchups are pre-set because, except for one time, the final was always Cal vs UCLA. So Cal plays UCLA on Sunday and that can be a really interesting test for both.
UCLA is feeling pretty good after their win over Oxford in the fall. For Cal this is their opener. The Bears have graduated a large number of high-end players, but that's no big surprise. They have reloaded just fine.
“It feels great to be back in Berkeley,” said senior prop and co-captain Charlie Walsh after the players started winter camp (No. 8 Alex Aguero and back Will Shankland are also co-captains). “All the boys are excited to be back together, training and being around each other again. Winter camp on campus offers us a unique opportunity to pretty much be a full-time rugby player over this period of time where we don’t have academic obligations. We’re pretty lucky to experience that, and are keen to make the most of this time together.”
Keep an eye on Cal Poly, US Santa Cruz, and the rebuidling Loyola Marymount, which now has Cristian Rodriguez coaching there.
