PHOENIX, Arizona – California rugby closed out its two-game road trip on Monday, defeating Grand Canyon in Phoenix by the score of 84-0.

"We are appreciative of both of these teams hosting us this weekend," head coach Jack Clark said. "We needed the rugby. We didn't play all that clean today, but the boys put in a ton of effort. If our identity is far less than perfect but high effort, I'm good with that. We took some injuries, which won't help in the short term, but we'll get them all back before long."
 
It took nine minutes for Cal to get its first ball across the try line (senior Max Murphy), but the Bears went on to score three more times over the next 11 minutes. On a windy day in Phoenix, both teams struggled with ball handling, but the Bears managed to contain their mistakes, holding GCU out of its try zone the whole match.
 
After scoring 14 tries against Arizona on Saturday, the Bears scored 14 more against GCU which included three from Murphy and four from junior Max Schumacher. Nathan Zylstra, captain Sam Golla, Jake Broekhuizen, Nick Bloom (2), Luke Ogburn and Evan Weigold all scored as well.  Adding seven conversions to his tries, Schumacher scored 34 points on Monday, bringing his total to 63 for the weekend.
 
"The main thing we had trouble with was handling errors which will be a big focus heading into this week against BYU," Schumacher said. "Plan execution will be another focus for us, especially with our halftime adjustments. We need to be able to adjust more efficiently in order to be successful."
 
Cal will now return to Berkeley to prepare for its homecoming matchup against BYU at Witter Rugby Field. The match is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 1pm.
 
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby/).
 
Scoring timeline
 
Cal 84, Grand Canyon 0
9:00– Max Murphy 5
11:00– Max Murphy 5
15:00 – Max Schumacher 5
20:00 – Nathan Zylstra 5, Max Schumacher 2
31:00 – Max Murphy 5, Max Schumacher 2
34:00 – Sam Golla 5, Max Schumacher 2
Halftime Score: Cal 36, Grand Canyon 0
47:00 – Jake Broekhuizen 5
50:00 – Max Schumacher 5, Max Schumacher 2
58:00 – Max Schumacher 5, Max Schumacher 2
64:00 – Nick Bloom 5
67:00 – Luke Ogburn 5
69:00 – Nick Bloom 5, Max Schumacher 2
75:00 – Max Schumacher 5
78:00 – Evan Weigold 5, Max Schumacher 2
 
Starters at Grand Canyon:
1. Clayton Seastrand 2. Nathan Zylstra 3. Jack Manzo 4. Sam Golla 5. Max Murphy 6. Jake Broekhuizen 7. Luke Freeman 8. Jason Severance 9. Jack Gallagher 10. Seth Purdey 11. Marcus Shankland 12. Cal Liebowitz 13. Will Shankland 14. Nick Bloom 15. Max Schumacher
 
Substitutions:
12:00 – Evan Weigold
40:00 – Luke Ogburn
50:00 – Emilio Shea
56:00 – Matt Vranesh, Nick Leusing, Tom Dixon
58:00 – Alex Aguero
63:00 – Matthew Dodd