The good news for the Golden Bears (and more bad news for the rest of the field): This has been a season of overcoming obstacles for Cal. The Bears' record didn't indicate it - they were 29-0 playing 15-a-side, culminating with a national title on May 21. But switching formats pales next to playing all your games on the road, or dealing with the possible loss of varsity status for your sport.
They hit the road this season because major renovations of Cal's athletic complex meant their 5,000-seat stadium, Witter Rugby Field, was unavailable for 2011 and 2012. That field, up on a spot called Strawberry Canyon, was a destination spot on campus on a Saturday afternoon. Cal didn't have that tremendous advantage this year.
"It would be disingenuous to say it wasn't a huge obstacle to overcome," Clark said. "I'm just amazed and grateful to our players. They never batted an eye and never said a word."
Maybe that's because it wasn't even their biggest obstacle in the last year. In the fall, Cal's athletic department announced sports cuts. Some sports were going to be gone completely. Rugby - the oldest intercollegiate sport on campus, in existence since 1882, winner of 19 of the last 21 national championships - was to be switched to some sort of nebulous and ill-defined "varsity club" status. Not exactly varsity, not quite club. Clark said he never sought to define the term. He worked to reverse the decision.
