If you're looking to watch college rugby teams with large and vocal fan bases, you've got to be happy with the upcoming D1A final between the Golden Bear Horde of Cal and the Chiropractic Sea of Green for Life University.
This is a matchup which, we know, almost happened in the semifinals, but the D1A Executive Committee shifted the matchups for financial and TV reasons. So now we get to see it in the final this Saturday at Stevens Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
How did we get here? Here are six moments from the two semifinals that led us to where we are now.
1) The Composure Game
What happens when you're playing in front of a crowd of mostly your fans and you are trying to carry on an admirable legacy of success but you fall behind 7-0 to a relatively upstart team? You take it easy—and don't panic.
This was less of a moment than it was a state of mind in No. 3 seed Cal's 43-22 win over No. 9 seed Lindenwood in Moraga, CA, on Saturday. The Bears' players didn't try to change everything; they didn't try to go off-script. They kept at it and slowly put themselves into position to take the lead.
Perhaps most notable was Cal's response right after the Lions scored (which was about eight minutes into the game). Bears lock Ben Casey had the ball on the outside and was summarily thrown into touch and through the sideline barriers. Instead of getting pissed off, Casey stood up like it was no big deal and got back to work.
It took until 23 minutes in for Cal to finally get the lead, but the Bears never looked flustered.
Compare this to Lindenwood's response, and how the Lions started to make up things—that chip kick that Sam Cusano took to the house is one obvious example.
2) The Life Scrum And Maul
It was obvious during Life's quarterfinal victory over Army that the Life scrum, led by tighthead prop Alex Maughan, would be a problem for anyone. Maughan targeted the Black Knights' weak spot (not helped as Army's loosehead needed a brace on his right leg), and Life won the day in the pack.
The same was true for the Running Eagles' 69-14 semifinal victory over Penn State on Saturday in Marietta, GA. The tight five of Maughan, Matt Harmon, Brian Muntanga, Jamie Berrisford, and Mike Islava combined strong body position with unity and power to shove PSU off the ball in the scrum and score on the maul.
3) Scoring In The First Minute Helps
Life scored right at the beginning of the game in a clinical way. Justin Johnson nabbed the lineout throw, and No. 8 Maciu Koroi was there to take the ball and serve as halfback. Standing off was scrumhalf Ryan Rees, who—despite being one of the smaller players on the field—took a hard line and forced a few defenders to pay attention to him. There was a quick pass to flanker Sebastien Banos and one more ruck before the backs got a look.
Flyhalf Duncan van Schalkwyk took a few steps before offloading a pass to fullback George Phelan. Now, here's where it gets special. No one had really broken the Penn State line. Phelan made a few meters, but the guy who broke the line was working off the ball. Van Schalkwyk slipped past the Penn State defenders and was wide open when Phelan passed back inside to him. Try Running Eagles, and off they went.
4) Winning The Point Of Contact
Lindenwood made the semifinal because the Lions had dominated the point of contact, usually barreling through defenders with the ball in hand and hitting so hard that they put the opposition attackers under pressure.
But Cal withstood all of that and relied on fitness to get the job done. Any isolated Lindenwood runner was met by several tacklers, who made sure the Lions player went down. Then those players quickly fanned out and played defense again.
And with that, the Bears pushed the Lindenwood back. On several occasions, LU found itself not making any ground and was forced to kick. Those kicks didn't do the Lions a lot of good.
5) That Lineout Play
You'd think since Life hooker Brian Muntanga keeps scoring tries that you'd want to keep an eye on him. But one lineout play showed that it's easy to forget the hooker once he throws the ball in to play. The Running Eagles won the throw and set up a maul. Two runners scampered to the open side (the right side in this case), and all of the Penn State players' attention was on that maul or on those players standing off to the open side.
Muntanga? He had just taken one step onto the field and waited. Rees fired a bullet to his hooker, and it was an easy try. You know Cal marked that one down.
6) Closing Out The Game
Lindenwood didn't fold, of course, against the Bears and battled back with a try and a penalty to make it 24-17 about 12 minutes into the second half. At this point, the game was completely up in the air. But Cal turned things around in a hurry. Dunn caught the restart on the fly. Christian Dyer weaved all over the place, which didn't make a lot of ground but served to shift the point of attention.
So when prop Damon Wiley ran straight ahead, he was able to make significant ground. Dyer put a perfect pass for an onrushing Kevin Sullivan, and the Bears had scored a try seconds after giving up three points. Sullivan then set up a try with his passing about eight minutes later, and Cal would not lose control of the game from there.