Round 1 of the newly-formed California Cup is in the history books. A sunny day in San Francisco Bay made for plenty of running rugby, with 25 tries in all spread across three games much to the delight of those in attendance. By the end of the afternoon two clubs – OMBAC and SFGG – had thrown down the gauntlet for the rest of the competition.
Most impressive was OMBAC’s 58-10 demolition of Olympic. A hat trick to Zach Pangelinan and nine tries all told left no illusions as to the type of rugby OMBAC are prepared to play this season.
Their top competitors Golden Gate also shone with a comprehensive 42-19 win over underdogs Old Aztecs. PRO Rugby standout Volney Rouse came away with 17 points while the dynamic outside backs did their part, with Pila Huihui and Jack Halalilo each coming away with two tries apiece.
An exciting opening match of the day saw Life West hold off a surging Belmont Shore 27-20. The Gladiators ran up a 22-0 score by halftime but full credit to Shore for their impressive fight-back that just full short as they notched 20 points in the second half, 15 coming from winger Andy Jackson.
Round 2 next weekend sees OMBAC away at Belmont Shore, Life West traveling to Old Aztecs, and Olympic in a local derby against SFGG.
LIFE WEST 27 vs 20 BELMONT SHORE
Sat, Dec 3, 11:15, Ray Sheeran Field, Treasure Island
SCORING
LIFE WEST 27
Tries – S. Falatau, G. Cazenave, M. Volavola, N. Vete
Cons – P. Toelupe-Tuisila 2
Pens – P. Toelupe-Tuisila
BELMONT SHORE 20
Tries – A. Jackson, R. Newcomb
Cons – A. Jackson 2
Pens – A. Jackson 2
TEAMS
LIFE WEST GLADIATORS
1 Tone Ngaluafe, 2 Iakopa Vatuvei, 3 Holo Mo’ungaloa, 4 Zack Tannous, 5 Rich Knight, 6 Siupeli Sakalia, 7 Naibuka Tawake, 8 Akuila Uaisele (capt.), 9 Tyler Harrison, 10 Guillaume Cazenave, 11 Manu Volavola, 12 Nua Vete, 13 Siokatame Falatau, 14 Calvin Nell, 15 Pelepesite Toelupe-Tuisila
16 Sione Fifita, 17 Kalafitoni Pole, 18 Ben Fano, 19 Alex Pedjase, 20 Francis Save-Mahoni, 21 Naima Fuala’au, 22 Anthony Cook, 23 Tevita Tonga
BELMONT SHORE
1 Mason Pedersen, 2 JP Palaita, 3 Mafi Seanoa, 4 Sam Lilley, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Cameron Reed, 7 Sione Masoe, 8 Timothy Mendoza, 9 John Gray (capt.), 10 Hilton Mexted, 11 Andy Jackson, 12 Ed Pitts, 13 Kimo Muse, 14 Greg Daniels, 15 Adam Channel
16 Damien Kamu, 17 Brice Schilling, 18 Daniel Va’afuti, 19 Blake Rowerdink, 20 Greg Justyn, 21 Peter Nifo, 22 Roland Blackiston, 23 Rob Newcomb
OLYMPIC 10 vs 58 OMBAC
Sat, Dec 3, 13:15, Ray Sheeran Field, Treasure Island
SCORING
OLYMPIC 10
Tries – J. Braun
Cons – J. Anderson
Pens – J. Anderson
OMBAC 58
Tries – Z. Pangelinan 3, I. Denham, B. Batger, J. Bart, J. Grant, M. Long, S. Moise
Cons – K. Konrad 5
Pens – K. Konrad
TEAMS
OLYMPIC
1 Alex Drake, 2 Travis Moscone, 3 Stephan Salimi, 4 Zack Purdy, 5 Jack Seymour, 6 Tanner Mohr (capt.), 7 Josh Gold, 8 Matt Frederickson, 9 Paul Deneys, 10 Jake Anderson, 11 John Gallo, 12 Jared Braun, 13 Ben Cunningham, 14 Josh Tucker, 15 Ricky Boebel
16 Josh Galant, 17 Tom Bernardi, 18 Mark Shughart, 19 Peter Rogers, 20 Nick Jones, 21 Ryan Cook, 22 Will Johnston, 23 Landis Nasser
OLD MISSION BAY ATHLETIC CLUB
1 Josh Bart, 2 Jed Gillespie, 3 Ethan Willis, 4 Jay Harman, 5 Brian Doyle, 6 Josh Vainikolo, 7 Shane Moise, 8 Tai Tuisamoa (capt.), 9 Ian Cassidy, 10 Ben Batger, 11 Ian Denham, 12 Kalei Konrad, 13 John Grant, 14 Mila Setefane, 15 Zach Pangelinan
16 Tai Te’o, 17 Nick Zajda, 18 Jason Wood, 19 Bryce Baker, 20 Gregor Hartman, 21 Jamie Purcell, 22 Andy Early, 23 Matt Long
SFGG 42 vs 19 OLD AZTECS
Sat, Dec 3, 15:00, Ray Sheeran Field, Treasure Island
SCORING
SFGG 42
Tries – J. Halalilo 2, P. Huihui 2, V. Rouse, M. Laqai
Cons – V. Rouse 6
OLD AZTECS 19
Tries – J. Prickett, R. Stortz, L. Edwards
Cons – T. Howard 2
TEAMS
SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATE
1 Jacob Nelson, 2 Neil Barrett, 3 Saimone Laulaupea’alu, 4 Brendan Hardiman, 5 Brendan Daly (capt.), 6 Opeti Okusi, 7 Manu Laqai, 8 Ricky Reynolds, 9 Colby Stevens, 10 Volney Rouse, 11 Pila Huihui, 12 Eae Okusi, 13 Tevita Okusi, 14 Vitale Cuzzie-Bro, 15 Jack Halalilo
16 Grant Hyjer, 17 Sam Tofi, 18 Joe Fukofuka, 19 Nick Grass, 20 Tom Rooke, 21 Drew Hyjer, 22 Jesse Fuller, 23 Hector Quilles
SAN DIEGO OLD AZTECS
1 Tristan Pickering, 2 Pat Blair, 3 Tasi Toilolo, 4 Joe Ramonas, 5 Lucas Edwards (capt.), 6 Leon Hayward, 7 Bryan Barnard, 8 Jeff Diggs, 9 Robert Stortz, 10 Mike Deel, 11 Cleeandre Ross, 12 Tim Howard, 13 Connor Mariani, 14 Jose Lugo, 15 Jon Prickett
16 John Guerrero, 17 Chris Gonzales, 18 Joe Wesolek, 19 Des Wellington, 20 Robert Laulualo, 21 David Persson, 22 Donell Washington, 23 Boomer Roller
2016-17 CALIFORNIA CUP LEAGUE TABLE
CLUB | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BP | PTS |
OMBAC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 10 | +48 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
SFGG | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 19 | +23 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Life West | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 20 | +7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Belmont Shore | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 27 | -7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Old Aztecs | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 42 | -23 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Olympic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 58 | -48 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
2016-17 CALIFORNIA CUP SCORING LEADERS
NAME | CLUB | PTS | T | C | P | D |
Volney Rouse | SFGG | 17 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Andy Jackson | Belmont Shore | 15 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Zach Pangelinan | OMBAC | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kalei Konrad | OMBAC | 13 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Jack Halalilo | SFGG | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pila Huihui | SFGG | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pelepesite Toelupe-Tuisila | Life West | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Jake Anderson | Olympic | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Josh Bart | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ben Batger | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Jared Braun | Olympic | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Guillaume Cazenave | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ian Denham | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lucas Edwards | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Siokatame Falatau | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
John Grant | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Manu Laqai | SFGG | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Matt Long | OMBAc | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Shane Moise | OMBAC | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rob Newcomb | Belmont Shore | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Jon Prickett | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Robert Stortz | Old Aztecs | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nau Vete | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Manu Volavola | Life West | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tim Howard | Old Aztecs | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |