Dartmouth rugby concluded its Bay Area tour by taking on the California Berkeley Golden Bears #3, a top-ranked, well-respected rugby program; and the DRFC put up a performance of which they should be proud. The Big Green stayed with the Golden Bears for the first quarter of the match, as fly-half Pat Sheehy '20 converted a forty meter penalty, the games first points, and Luke Bienstock ’20 ran sixty meters for a try set up by a Julien Johnson ’18 interception. The try was the first of four for Dartmouth on the day, with Sheehy demonstrating a perfect record on conversions. Capitalizing on opportunities created by turnovers and forced errors was a consistent theme for the Big Green throughout the day. Dartmouth saw themselves down 24-10 through the first twenty-two minutes of play.
About sixteen minutes into the match, DRFC captain Benji Hannam ’18 came off for an injury he sustained after forcing a turnover. While his time on the pitch may not have lasted long, his presence was missed as the skipper had already created multiple turnovers and put together a few nice runs. Other strong Dartmouth performances from the match included co-captain Oliver Engelhart ’18, whose incredible work-rate lead to Dartmouth penalties and line breaks and co-captain Steve Hinshaw ’18 who kept the Cal defense on their toes with strong running and showed persistence in his tackling on the defensive end.
Dartmouth put together one more try before the conclusion of the half, in a solo effort by winger Gyorgy Brevnov ’20, who ran a loose ball back fifty meters for a try. Going into halftime, the DRFC faced a deficit of 51-17.
The Big Green had a slow start to the second half, but their mindset quickly turned around. Dartmouth put together several phases on offense inside Cal’s twenty-two. After strong forward play from Mason Koch ’20 and Ian Sullivan ’18, the backs stretched the ball wide to Jack Badenhausen ’19, who was brought down via a high tackle in the Cal try zone and received a penalty try as a result. Later in the half, Dartmouth brought on several reserves, including Patrick O’Neill ’20 who scored the final try of the game after forcing and returning a Cal handling error, with only a few minutes remaining. As Cal looked poised to score a try to end the match, the DRFC defense remained resilient, defending its half well and applying pressure to Cal’s attack to force a knock-on to end the game. The final score of the match was 101-31, Cal.
The match served as a great ending to Dartmouth’s tour, as the Dartmouth side was only the second team to post that many points on the scoreboard against the Golden Bears this season. Dartmouth was gracious for Cal’s incredible hospitality as hosts—the team’s later shared lunch in the football team’s dining area—and both teams look forward to continuing their relationship and rivalry.
The DRFC now looks ahead to the D1AA national championships, which will start on April 7th at the University of Kansas. The Big Green have shown incredible improvement over the past several matches and looks to enter the D1AA tournament at their strongest this season.