Cal, the gold standard at rugby sevens tourney, routs Penn State

As Penn State and California players ran into PPL Park on Saturday afternoon, sprinting under rugby goalposts whose tops were visible to Delaware River boaters, they were buoyed by a roaring crowd, a screaming public-address announcer, and the knowledge that for the next 20 minutes network TV cameras would be pointed at them.

For the Nittany Lions, their third match on Saturday's opening day of the 2011 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championships was a rare respite from the sport's American obscurity. For Cal, the fervor generated by the game that kicked off NBC's portion of daylong TV coverage was as familiar as protests on its Berkeley campus.

That's because Cal, almost alone among college rugby programs, plays before large and energetic gatherings all the time at Witter Field, the recently renovated stadium that sits as close to San Francisco Bay as PPL does to the Delaware.

"We've played in front of some pretty big crowds," coach Jack Clark said after his Golden Bears routed the Nittany Lions, 26-7.

The Golden Bears rule the waves in collegiate rugby, a sport not sanctioned by the NCAA or blessed with TV riches or widespread popularity.

In the traditional 15-player version of the sport, Cal has won 26 national titles since 1980. In recent decades, it has put together winning streaks of 98 and 70 games. And though they lost to Utah in the final of last year's inaugural college rugby sevens tourney, the Golden Bears arrived in Philadelphia as big favorites to win this one.

They did little to alter those expectations on the busy, pleasant Saturday in Chester. In addition to their lopsided victory over Penn State, they dismantled Ohio State (38-0) and Louisiana State (24-0) to advance to Sunday's quarterfinals.

Penn State, which eked out two-point wins over Ohio State and LSU, also moved on, as did Arizona, Army, Dartmouth, Utah, Texas, and Central Washington.

Temple lost all three of its games and will compete in Sunday's consolation round. The two-day, 16-team men's event in Chester will conclude Sunday with the 5:20 p.m. men's championship.

"Pretty uneven, actually," Cal's Clark said when asked to describe his team's play. "We played reasonably well at times in all the games, but pretty uneven overall."

Since they had outscored three opponents, 88-7, it was clear that the standards are different for Clark and Cal.