The California Golden Bears are currently situated in Group A play, where they have to get the best of the Ohio State Buckeyes, LSU Tigers, and Penn State Nittany Lions to move (check out this excellent preview of the rugby tournament for further details!). They took some huge steps on Saturday to get to the knockout stages of the tournament.
Cal started their morning against Ohio State, and got quickly to work. A James McTurk try in the second minute landed him in the right corner (the conversion failed), and Cal went up 5-0. The Bears were on the counterattack almost immediately when Ohio State took possession; James Bailes handed it to McTurk, who pop passed it to Sean Gallinger, then provided a long leave for Blaine Scully to make it 12-0. McTurk added another try to make it 19-0 by halftime.
Derek Ausburn added another try in the second half to up the score to 24-0 two minutes in, Connor Ring came up with another try barely a minute later to make it 31-0 after the conversion succeeded, and then Dustin Muhn capped off the scoring after creasing through the gap for a 60 meter try. Cal won 38-0 to move to 1-0 in Group A play.
For more on Cal Rugby, check out the open thread at California Golden Blogs.