Club Rugby Knocks Off Stanford

By Samantha Juda

Bellomy Field was lit up Friday night as a large and loud crowd of students, alumni, friends and family watched the Santa Clara men's rugby team beat Stanford for the first time ever, 38-12. With the win, the team has now cracked the national rankings at No. 23. 

"It was great," said sophomore Tim O'Hara. "It was a lot of fun. It was great having all the students there. It was a great atmosphere, and a big win for us."

Stanford led the game early on, scoring seven points in the first few minutes. But Santa Clara University Touring Side didn't let the Cardinals keep the lead for long. Freshman Tom Tatum scored his first try of the season, helping the Broncos stay ahead 19-7 at halftime. The Broncos scored 19 more points in the second half, and only allowed Stanford to gain five before the Broncos finished the game with a 26-point lead.

"It was a great win, (but) it was more of a statement win because it was our first Division I win ever," said senior Joey Murphy, "and it was kind of a statement to the university, our rugby program, to the rugby alumni and to the league and the rugby community as a whole."

With voluntary gym workouts and running plus a new head coach in Paul Keeler, the team had been working toward their first conference game against Stanford since the spring.

"From the last guy on the team, everyone's just 100 percent bought in," said Murphy. "I mean attendance is at an all time high during practice, and guys are in the weight room every single day and running on their own. It was pretty much our first goal of the season to beat Stanford."

Standouts include senior Alan Lee, juniors Nick Johnson and Alex Pascale and sophomore Mike Cunningham, all of whom scored against Stanford. Senior Teddy Mefford, a first-time kicker, also contributed by converting four out of five kicks.

"We lost the first few games, and it's mostly just from a couple small mistakes like not making enough kicks," said Mefford. "If we could have converted our kicks from Cal Poly, we would have won. So it's one of those things that our team wasn't doing well."

Mefford, who was asked to kick against Stanford because of his strong performances in practices, plans to continue at the position for the team in its upcoming games against Chico State and Sacramento State.

"So far its been a great season," said senior and team president Ryan Falvey. "We only graduated a couple seniors from last year, so we had a lot of returning players. But the commitment and the leadership and certain players who have definitely stepped up are playing a big role in making this team play really well right now."

SCUTS returns to Bellomy Field on March 17, for a St. Patrick's Day match against Chico State.

Contact Samantha Juda at sjuda@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.