Upset? What upset?

Sacramento State might have been the #2 team out if the Pacific Western Conference, and they might have been playing the #1 team out of the Gold Coast, but the Sacramento State players and coaches did not think it was an upset to beat the 49ers and make the DIAA quarterfinals. Not by a long shot.

“We just stuck to our game plan and what’s been successful for us this season,” said Coach Adam Macrae. “We’ve been improving through the season. What has been killing us in some games - like against UC Davis - was counterattack on the kick. And we knew Long Beach would kick a lot so we worked on that.”

Sac State’s counter still wasn’t perfect, but they were patient, worked their way out of their 22, and when they were able to run the ball through the hands, they scored.

Sac State had moved wing Blake Nicolas to lock to use his height and strength in the forwards. But then decided to move Nicolas back to the wing, with lineout privileges. This worked very nicely as Nicolas had an excellent game against Long Beach, and is a tall, physically imposing runner on the outside.

Phil Maechling had a good day on the other wing, while Noah Evaristo had a huge day on defense, thumping into player after player and making them think twice about keeping the ball for longer than a second or two.

That plan - hit hard, run hard, and win the ball in the air - served them well. Macrae was proud of his team's effort, but he also had kind words for the opposition.

"CSULB was an outstanding team, and showed nothing but respect for the game," said Macrae.  "It was a hard-fought match, with no talking, just good rugby.  Their coach, Jason Reynolds, is a class act, and should be extremely proud of his players, alumni, and fans it was a great day of rugby."

So now on to the western half of the DIAA playoffs, with Sacramento State playing UC Davis for the third time this season, and Arkansas taking on Utah State. it’s a weird bracket, in that you’d think they could have been constructed to keep the Pac West and Gold Coast teams separate. But Macrae said it doesn’t mater.

“Coming off the field against Long Beach all the guys were talking about was playing Davis again,” said Macrae. “We know that if we want to win a championship, we have to go through Davis at some point.”

So far, UC Davis has won both games between the two this season, but Sac State only needs one, and for Macrae it starts with the kicking game.

“We have to stop Davis’s kicking,” he said. “They are so good at punching the ball into the corners. They scored 20 points on us that way last time. We just can’t let the ball bounce.”