January 22, 2017
OMBAC Rugby Claims California Cup Title Over Life West
Doug Coil
The California Cup Rugby Finals were hosted by the San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club at Ray Sheeran Field on Treasure Island on Saturday. OMBAC entered the match with the league’s most powerful offense during the season scoring 231 points. Life West was the next closest with 164 points. OMBAC also was a force defensively giving up the second lowest point differential of 118 points. Belmont Shore gave up fewer points, but they place one fewer match as the result the the rain out against Olympic Club.
California Cup Final
The Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) claimed the inaugural California Cup rugby title with a 26-22 win over the Life West Gladiators.
OMBAC took an early lead eight minutes into the contest with a converted try for a 7-0 lead. Life West struck back with a 40 meter penalty kick by Gui Casenave to narrow the score to 7-3. By the midpoint in the first half, OMBAC added a second try to increase their lead to 12-3 and at halftime the score was 20-3.
The Gladiators struck first in the second half with a try by Gui Casenave to narrow the score to 20-8. They then added another try at the 49th minute and were back in contention at 20-15. OMBAC then added a try to seal the match before Life West scored a try at death.
The match was a hard fought match by both teams with OMBAC prevailing at the end 26-22.
3rd Place
San Francisco Golden Gate emerged with a 20-18 win over Belmont Shore after losing 12-10 at halftime.
San Francisco Golden Gate had injury problems during the season and were disappointed to not play in the final on their home pitch. Their attack was potent during the season, but their defense gave up an uncharacteristic larger number of points than previous teams.
Belmont Shore were a defensive force during the season in leading the league. Like a week four two point loss to SFGG, the third place match ended with the same point margin.
5th Place
Olympic Club’s Mike Haley lead the team with a hat trick to win 50-14 over the San Diego Old Aztecs. Keegan Engelbrecht also contributed to the win with a try, penalty kick and three conversions. At halftime the score was 38-7.
Although both teams had hoped to contend for a higher position, Olympic Club had the fewest points scored in the league. Luckily for them, their attack clicked against the Old Aztecs.
The San Diego Old Aztecs meanwhile had several close matches during the season, while their defense gave up numerous points.
