GRR: St. Mary's
In a meeting of two highly-ranked D1A teams Saint Mary's defeated Arizona 48-15 in Moraga.
It was, thankfully, finally good weather in Northern California and set the scene for an intense match, and it was. Competitive, hard-hitting, and at times chippy, the game was a good reminder for both teams how tough it gets as the season progresses.
Saint Mary’s put Grand Canyon to the sword Saturday in Phoenix, defeating the ‘Lopes 79-8 on the first day of collegiate competition in the New Year.
GCU started on the front foot and got an early penalty goal to lead 3-0. But Saint Mary’s played their habitual fast ball-movement game, bolstered by a powerful scrum, and answered in short order.
In this weekend’s installment of “be careful what you wish for” Saint Mary’s makes the trip to Phoenix to play Grand Canyon University in the first weekend of January.
Two tries just after the 60th minute stymied a Cal comeback and brought Saint Mary's a rather remarkable 38-34 victory over Cal.
Both head coaches lauded the game and the day.
“Congratulations to Saint Mary’s; that was a proper game of first XV rugby,” Cal Head Coach Jack Clark said.
Saint Mary's is still looking to shake off their loss to Central Washington, and hope this weekend to do that against BYU.
Guilty perhaps of too many mistakes and missing a chance to finish off that game, the Gaels now look to address those issues against the Cougars.