The Rugby World Cup is a few months away, but the United States knows that today's game could be of critical importance, because they will be facing this foe again when the tournament kicks off. Russia will be their opponent on September 15th in New Zealand, and they'll be their opponent today at Sixways Stadium in Worcester, England.
As you would expect, when US Rugby is involved, Cal rugby isn't too far behind.
Rugby America gives us the news of the lineup, and it's crawling with Bears. Blaine Scully (the captain of last year's Cal rugby squad that won another national championship) will be starting as the team fullback. Colin Hawley (Cal 2010) will be starting on the right wing, Eric Fry (Cal 2010) is a reserve prop, Chris Biller (Cal 2009) is the starting hooker, and Louis Stanfill (Cal 2008, and recently interviewed by the California Golden Blogs) is the eight man. Lots of Bears on a national squad looking to make some noise on a national stage.
They can start by winning their final match at the Churchill Cup. You can watch it live online at 7 AM ET/4 AM PT at Universal Sports.com for a small price of $4.99, or you can wait a few hours for the tape delay and check it out on the Universal Sports channel at noon ET/9 AM PT.