Updated Playoff Bracket in PDF Format

April 27, 2009

BERKELEY - As the Golden Bears' rugby season approaches its last weekend, four teams remain in the hunt for the 2009 national collegiate championship. In the May 1-2 semifinals and final at Stanford's Steuber Rugby Stadium, No. 1 California (29-1) and No. 4 Army (12-1-1) kick off at 7 p.m. Friday in one semi, preceded by No. 2 BYU (16-0) vs. No. 3 San Diego State (12-0) at 5 p.m.

The winners meet 7 p.m. Saturday for the national championship, which will be taped for future broadcast on ESPNU with semifinal highlights included.

The consecutive-day format means that every team must prepare for two matches in two days without looking past the semifinal. No matter who is tapped to wear blue and gold for the Bears on Friday, the mission is the same, said Cal head coach Jack Clark.

"We've played a lot of rugby this season attempting to build some depth within our side," Clark said. "The objective at this point is straightforward: try to scratch out a semifinal victory and advance. There are no style points on offer. Advancing to the national championship match by one point would suit us fine. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done."

The Black Knights bring with them the fitness and determination of a service-academy side that has been a perennial playoff participant and clashed with Cal many times over the years. The Knights have earned trips to the national postseason repeatedly, making 10 trips to the semis and finishing as runner-up three years in a row, including 1991 and '92 championship defeats at the hands of the Bears. Both of those matches, as well as Cal's 2002 semifinal win over Army, tasked the Bears to come from behind to win.

The matches have been epic between Cal and Army in part because of their intensity and the stakes involved. The two sides have not played since 2003, when Cal dispatched the Knights in the 3rd/4th-place consolation game, a contest that is no longer played. Two planned meetings since then ended up canceled, the most recent due to a snowstorm that prevented Army from visiting Witter Rugby Field in 2007.

The Knights had their only loss to start the fall season at Queens University in Canada and ended their Feb. 28 match at Penn State in a 30-30 tie, but came into the postseason as the top team from the Northeast with big wins including their victory against Dartmouth in the Northeast Region final and a come-from-behind triumph over Navy in the April 7 National Guard Game of Week.

Army eliminated Saint Mary's in the Round of 16 in Marietta, Ga., 33-26, then came from behind again to edge Penn State, 20-19, for their semifinal slot.

Head coach Rich Pohlidal, who has helmed the team since 2004, relies on a balanced attack with a superb group of forwards, which includes a back row of blindside flanker Bobby O'Neill, open-side flanker Jeremy Huggins and No. 8 Peter Belden.

The Black Knights' backline is solid, too, with savvy scrumhalf John Wagner and flyhalf Dave Geib, and winger Latu Vaha'i another major threat on the outside.

In all they figure to be a typical Army team that will surely test Jack Clark's 31-1 Cal record against military academies.

"They're a good rugby team and what we'd expect to see from West Point: strong, capable young men," said Clark. "They win their half of primary-phase possession and run hard at their opponents with each and every ball. They're good defenders as well - no weaknesses, really."

The team that advances to Saturday's title match will face either the resurgent Aztecs, back in the semis for the first time in more than 20 years, or the Cougars, who have met the Bears in the final the past three seasons.

San Diego State hasn't been this far since 1987, when they won the national championship over Air Force at Pebble Beach. SDSU brings a strong corps of forwards into its semifinal showdown with BYU, as well as exciting backs who all seem to be peaking at just the right time.

Junior Duncan Kelm, who received All-America honors last season, spearheads the Aztecs with his all-around play in the midfield, while senior Alex Ross slots in from fullback to key the attack with his speed.

"We started with a plan to reach this level three seasons ago and this accomplishment was a collective effort," said head coach Dan Payne, whose staff includes former Cal All-America player and assistant coach Matt Sherman.

BYU had a pretty tough road to return to the semifinals for the fifth straight year, but the Cougars made it with two hard-fought wins over Dartmouth, 26-5, and Arkansas State, 13-3, in the Rounds of 16 & 8.

Big Green was within a try at halftime before BYU pulled away from Dartmouth. Then the Cougars played shorthanded for 50 minutes of their contest with Arkansas State, including a stretch with a two-man disadvantage. No. 8 and captain Steve St. Pierre received one of those binnings and Cougars hooker Ra Lawrence was ultimately red-carded after his second yellow.

The Bears and Cougars have faced each other in the title game the past three seasons, with Cal wining each time. Cougars head coach Dave Smyth was a player on the BYU team that faced Cal in the 1983 Pacific Coast Championship, in which the Clark-coached Bears emerged with the win and a spot in the national championships' final four teams. Smyth has been BYU's head coach for 16 seasons (1992-2003, 2006-present).

Friday and Saturday's evening kickoffs almost guarantee markedly different weather conditions than recent Big Four weekends on The Farm. Seasonably warm daytime temperatures could give way to front-shifting breezes and diving temps as night falls, with kicks sending balls into lights that could make clean catches trickier.

No matter how they are dissected in advance, three exciting 80-minute matches remain in the 2009 season, each of which will force the best team to rise to the top, and California, led by flyhalf Keegan Engelbrecht, hopes to put together two more worthy performances to bring home the 25th national title in program history.

TICKETS & PARKING INFO:
Tickets for each day are $15 for adults and $5 for students and military personnel with valid ID. Steuber Rugby Stadium is located on the Cardinal campus south of Sunken Diamond Parking Lot and Masters Grove, with plenty of free parking.