TUCSON, Arizona – In its first contest of the two-game road trip, California rugby defeated Arizona 94-10 at William David Sitton Field.
 
"We were good today in several aspects of play and we need work in other areas," head coach Jack Clark said. "Most importantly for me is we want to play well. The boys want to play good rugby and they're willing to put in the effort. There are some good teams on the horizon and we need to keep building if we want to be successful."
 
The Bears were once again strong in attack on Saturday afternoon, scoring five tries in the opening 15 minutes against the Wildcats. The Bears scored three more times in the half to take a 54-0 lead at the break. Arizona got on the board for the first time in the 44th-minute, scoring on a penalty kick in their third attempt. However, Cal responded the following minute with a try from senior captain Sam Golla, his second of the match. The Bears continued to keep the Wildcats out of their own try zone until the final minute when they were finally able to touch one down.
 
14 tries were scored by 10 players in the contest while seniors Golla, Jack Manzo, Kevin Saunders and Seth Purdey all scored twice. Junior Max Schumacher went 12-for-14 on conversions and contributed a try, scoring a total of 29 points on his own. Senior Nick Bloom, who played all 80 minutes, also contributed a try in the eighth minute.
 
"It felt awesome to get back on the field this week," Bloom said. "In the first 20 minutes, we were really cohesive and executed our game plan. That's going to be really fundamental to our success this year: the coaches will lay out a game plan for us and we need to show our ability to execute it."
 
In the reserve-grade match that followed, Cal defeated Arizona by the score of 82-12.
 
The Bears will remain in Arizona this weekend as they prepare for a Presidents' Day matchup at Grand Canyon on Monday, Feb. 21. The match is scheduled to kick off at 1pm MT/Noon PT.
 
For complete coverage of Cal rugby, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalVarsityRugby), Instagram (@CalVarsityRugby) and Facebook (/CalVarsityRugby/).
 
Scoring timeline
 
Cal 94, Arizona 10
3:00 - Jack Manzo 5, Max Schumacher 2
7:00 -  Jack Manzo 5
8:00 -  Nick Bloom 5, Max Schumacher 2
11:00 - Kevin Saunders 5, Max Schumacher 2
15:00 – Charlie Walsh 5, Max Schumacher 2
23:00 – Sam Golla 5, Max Schumacher 2
36:00 – Seth Purdey 5, Max Schumacher 2
40:00 – Jason Severance 5, Max Schumacher 2
Halftime Score: Cal 54, Arizona 0
44:00 -  Arizona 3
45:00 – Sam Golla 5, Max Schumacher 2
49:00 -  Kevin Saunders 5, Max Schumacher 2
54:00 -  Seth Purdey 5, Max Schumacher 2
60:00 -  Luke Freeman 5
75:00 – Nate Salter 5, Max Schumacher 2
78:00 – Max Schumacher 5, Max Schumacher 2
80:00 -  Arizona 5, Arizona 2
 
Starters at Arizona: 
1. Clayton Seastrand 2. Jack Manzo 3. Charlie Walsh 4. Sam Golla 5. Max Murphy 6. Jake Broekhuizen 7. Nathan Zylstra 8. Jason Severance 9. Henry Poon 10. Nate Salter 11. Marcus Shankland 12. Kevin Saunders 13. Seth Purdey 14. Nick Bloom 15. Max Schumahcer
 
Substitutions:
40:00 — Luke Freeman
54:00 — Mike Perrone, Gavin Janis
68:00 — Luke Ogburn, Tom Dixon
75:00 — Max Clark
78:00 – Matt Vranesh