Here is an informative article from RugbyMag.com on the sweet 16 seeds that are already clinched and the remaining games that will decide the rest of the spots:

http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/collegemen/the-2010-college-playoff-picture.aspx

The Mustangs have had a dramatic turn around the second half of league and their effort has been rewarded. A match vs. UCLA for the third and final playoff spot for the Southern California Premier League will be played to determine who gets to represent their league at the round of 16. The winner will punch a ticket to Atlanta in mid-April. Since the Mustangs are the underdogs for the match they will be on the road against UCLA.

The game will be played on Saturday, April 3rd on the UCLA campus. Gametime to be finalized.

Everyone is looking forward to Alumni/Parents weekend on Saturday and an always exciting rivalry matchup against the SDSU Aztecs. The Game is scheduled to be played on campus at the Sports Complex.
3rd side vs Bellarmine HS Team at 11am
1st side vs SDSU at 1pm
2nd side vs SDSU at 3pm

Later that evening the Alumni/Parents Weekend Festivities will continue starting at 6:30pm. The location of this year’s Alumni/Parents Dinner is:
American Legion Hall- Post 66
1661 Mill Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 US

If you are interested in attending and have not yet been sent an evite please email me at erwatson@calpoly.edu for more information.

The Mustangs had mixed results over the weekend, posting a 15-10 victory over the Bruins from UCLA on Friday, and then falling to the Wildcats of Arizona 31-24 on Sunday. Friday night was a sloppy, hard fought victory, as rain dumped on the field for the majority of the match. The Mustangs scored first as 8-man Alex Murchison, who has taken over the kicking duties, hit a penalty kick to give the mustangs a 3-0 lead. The Mustangs maul was effective all night long, and not soon after the Bruins answered back with a try of their own, Freshman flanker Danny DeAlba was able to score off a Mustang line-out, to bring the score to 8-7. The Bruins answered back to take the lead shortly after half time with a penalty kick, but Cal Poly, who maintained their composure despite the wet weather, scored again on a try from rookie hooker Joe Saldana. The Murchison conversion brought the score to 15-10, and the Mustangs held on over the final twenty minutes, to avenge their loss to the Bruins in Los Angeles earlier this season. “Man it was wet out there,” recalls De Alba,” but it was kinda cool.”

The conditions were better Sunday as the Mustangs played host to the University of Arizona at Talley fields. Cal Poly was looking to avenge a loss suffered to the Wildcats earlier in the year during a dramatic game in Las Vegas. Still feeling the effects from the hard fought Friday night game, the Poly fifteen started slow and allowed the Wildcats to score twice within the first ten minutes of the game. However, the Mustangs came roaring back in the second half, Poly was able to create some offense, including the first try of the year from speedy sophomore winger Tyler Carr. Junior lock Charlie Hamilton had another fine game, while President Aaron Bordenave and Sophomore Flanker David Schaefer muscled their way over the line in the second half. The try of the game and perhaps the season came from All-Star 8-man Alex Murchison as he evaded several defenders for a sixty meter try, Murchison had another stellar kicking game and was two for four on trys that were scored mostly in the corner. The final forty was as intense a rugby match as you will see, and the Mustangs would have been victorious had it not been for an intercept try the Wildcats scored late in the Game. The Final was 31-24 and Poly was granted bonus points in the standings for scoring four trys and losing by seven or less. With those points Cal Poly moves into fourth place in the league, and are in good position to play in a playoff game with the third place team for Southern California’s final seed at the National Tournament. David Shafer reflected on the season after the game,”We have come a long way and really improved every game. You could see our offense really get going in the second half this game, and I got really sun burnt. I think its rad that we got bonus points.” Cal Poly looks to train hard during the Bye week in preparation of rivals San Diego State in two weeks.

Parents, Alumni and Supporters

I wanted to share with you our current standing two weeks out from our last league match and our Alumni/ Parents Weekend gathering. We are 2-5 in the Southern California Premier League with one game to go. We sit 4th in the rankings based on the latest points tally; we will have an opportunity to play for the 3rd playoff seed from Southern California. Our opponent is unknown at this point but will be either the UCLA Bruins or the University of Arizona Wildcats, at their respective facilities. We feel very fortunate for the opportunity and go into this challenge with confidence.

We started the second round of the Premier League run with a bonus point win over UCSB 33 – 8. This was a very hard fought match on Friday night, Feb 19th under the lights, in slick conditions at Harder stadium on the UCSB campus. It was our first league win of the season and shows that hard work and commitment pays off.
The 2nd and 3rd matches of round two were against UCLA and the University of Arizona at our home on a double up weekend, Feb 26 v UCLA and Feb 28 v U of A. Friday night’s match was a single match due weather conditions. Eighty minutes of torrential rain saw the Mustang first side come out with their second league win of the season by the score of 15-10 against a very good Bruin side.

Sunday Feb 28 was an altogether different experience. A glorious, sunny day on the Central Coast saw perfect conditions for Division 1 college rugby. Our slow start and need to play up catch up rugby was our undoing. In the end we picked up 2 bonus points in the loss to the Wildcats. The score was 31 -24 to U of A, however, with a losing margin of only 7 and scoring 4 try’s, we added to our bonus point total and moved up in the standings. We have a bye week this week. It is time to heal up, take care of the details of college academics and prepare for Alumni / Parents weekend and our final league match against San Diego State in front of our home crowd at Talley fields.

I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of our players these last few weeks. The increased commitment level, heart, integrity and trust in the wake of great adversity have been truly impressive and the boys deserve all the credit in world. The pride and commitment I see in this team right now makes us believe anything is possible. I would also like to thank the parents for the emails that I have received asking what they can do for the program. My suggestion and hope is that the parents will begin to organize tailgates and attend games. By all means introduce yourselves to me, the entire coaching staff and other parents when attending the matches. I really enjoy meeting all the parents- please encourage your son to introduce us.

Last, but certainly not least, I sincerely request that all parents and alumni make every effort to attend our Alumni/ Parents Weekend gathering March 12-14 in San Luis Obispo. The coaches and players really need your support both at our Saturday afternoon match against SDSU and the evening festivities.

“There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together, we can be unstoppable.”

Best Regards,

Nick Massman
Head Coach
Cal Poly SLO RFC

“If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.

The Alumni played a big role in financially helping the Mustang’s with their trip to Las Vegas.

Doug Smith, Eric Owiesny, Mike Gossett, and all CPRFC Alumni,

I know I speak for all of the current players in sincerely saying Thank You for your financial support with our trip to Las Vegas and participation in the LVI tournament. It was a great opportunity to play a hard fought league match against U of A, pick up three other matches against quality opponents, and most of all watch international rugby played at the highest level. Being a part of this tradition rich team involves taking on increased financial obligations for all players, and the aid of the Alumni is greatly appreciated in helping alleviate some of this financial hardship.

Thank you again and I know the team is looking forward to having a strong end to the season hopefully continuing into the playoffs. See you all soon at Alumni Weekend.

Sincerely,
Eric Watson
CPRFC Treasurer

Because of forecasted weather and some traveling issues for UCLA there will only be a First side game tonight.

First side vs UCLA at the sports complex on campus at 6pm.

Any other possible changes will be updated asap.

To make up for the lost game, the Second side will be playing as SLO men’s B squad tomorrow, Saturday, at Pennington Fields at 3pm.

UCLA Bruins on Friday, February 26th, at the sports complex on campus under the lights
First side at 7:30pm
Second side at 5:30pm

U of A Wildcats on Sunday, February 28th, at Pennington Fields
First side at 12:30pm
Second side at 11:00am

Any changes due to weather will be updated asap

The Mustangs seemed to finally play up to their ability in their second game against UCSB this past Friday night. A change in a few players’ positions and team tactics seemed to be the difference for Cal Poly, as they were finally able to get the ball into the try zone in the first half. The scoring for Cal Poly opened with a brilliant feed from flyhalf Stuart Sharpe that put 8-man Alex Murchison into a hole about 10 meters out from the Gaucho’s try zone. Stuart Sharpe was quoted saying, “Well I was really sorry for scoring against UCSB, but I’m thrilled that we got into the try zone because it has escaped us for so much of the season.” From then on, the Mustangs new tactics seemed to keep UCSB on their back foot, and Cal Poly eventually scored with a brilliant off-the-maul move from prop Kris “Osty” Osterloh. Once again, Cal Poly got close to scoring, and flanker David Schaefer put it in with a weak side call that caught the Gauchos off guard. Another try from Alex Murchison, and Stuart Sharpe’s brilliant running and tactical kicking helped put three more scores into the try zone for Cal Poly. The second half saw Cal Poly get back to their old ways- being so close to scoring but not being able finish it off. However, the Mustangs solid defense allowed only 8 points in the first half, and zero points in the second half. In the end, it was 33-8 Cal Poly, and the Mustangs have their first win of the year. It wasn’t a full game, but it showed that the hard work of the players and the coaching staff is finally paying its dividends. Flanker Eric Watson felt great about the Mustangs performance- “I’m excited to see what happens in the next couple of games. We’ve put so much work in and we’ll see what happens soon enough.”

Dear Parents, Alumni and Supporters,

I thought I would write this letter to give you an update on a variety of fronts. We currently sit 0-4 in the Socal Premier league with 4 games to go. We finished the first round with a trip to Las Vegas to play University of Arizona in the last league match of round one. We also took an opportunity to pick up 2 more matches versus University of Colorado B’s and BYU B’s to aid in the development of our B/C squads. I have included some match details of that trip below.

Las Vegas Invitational
We brought 55 players to play four matches over this past weekend including our premier league match vs.
U of A. Typically we play three sides vs. U of A; however, Coach Sitton and I agreed to allow our 2nd sides to play other teams to get some variety in our schedule and allow our 3rd sides to face off.

Fri February 12th
CP 1 v U of A Cal Poly Loss 5 – 21 1 try for Cal Poly unconverted to U of A 2 trys 1 converted 3 pen kicks
CP 2 v Colorado 2 CP won 27 – 0 5 trys 1 con for Cal Poly
CP 3 v U of A 3 CP won 31 – 19 5 trys 3 cons for Cal Poly to 3 trys 2 cons for U of A

Sat February 13th
CP 2/3 V BYU 2 Cal Poly Loss 12 – 32 2 trys 1 converted to BYU 5 trys 2 converted 1 pen

As for our season, we have had somewhat of a perfect storm hit us this year. Although we have a significant
number of players and run three full teams (66 players plus), we have had our experienced knowledge base
destroyed due to several factors. We have lost 28 players (first side pool players with playoff experience).
Nine were lost to graduation for which I had planned. The other 19 are the biggest concern as we have lost
four to injury for the entire year and 15 others have quit due to financial challenges, academic
probation/removal or leaving school for academic reasons (lack of class availability or field of study change).
We have also continued to have the usual mountain to climb of getting training facility access and this year a skeleton crew coaching staff. All of these factors coming together at once have put us significantly behind
the eight ball.

Financial Challenges:
We are a club sport on campus. We are administered by student life and leadership (California state entity)
and our facilities are provided by Associated Students inc. (ASI). We apply for a grant of $4k each year from
ASI. Then the team typically pays dues of $200-$300 dollars/player/ year to cover their costs (refs, field
costs, ASI staff costs, union dues, medical staff, team kit, hotel, transportation, coach expenses, gas, food
lodging while traveling and attending training etc).Typically this covers most expenses during the season with a small contribution from our alumni chapter when we go to playoffs or have a large investment like new
uniforms or we bring over a new voice from New Zealand or South Africa to add to our coaching staff. We are completely financed by the players and their parents and what contributions the alumni chapter can pull
together.

This season we had to shoulder a surprise bill from the 2006 team and a bill from the 2009 team which
drained our resources completely. Due to this, the team officers had to increase dues this season to
$500/player, as the team account was frozen (by Student life and ASI) until all debt was cleared. This caused an issue getting this seasons bills paid so we could even compete (i.e. referees and union dues). It also played a factor in keeping the experienced players around as many of them have significant financial
challenges in a normal year and this pushed them over the edge.

Academic Challenges:
Due to the state of California’s economic situation this year, Cal Poly has set up a furlough program to keep
as many professors working as possible. This has also resulted in lecturers being laid off and a crack down
on student numbers so that they can ultimately service the student body. There were several players that
were on academic probation or on academic contract that were either removed from school by the university
or their parents removing them from the team. We have an academic services dept at the university in which
the players have access but many have chosen not to utilize the service for time or financial reasons.

Facility Issues:
Our typical battle of training facilities continues due to furloughs and lack of communication from ASI. We still train on tennis courts and in parking structures occasionally. This year there is a turf field that has opened up but we either share with ultimate frisbee, lacrosse or soccer clubs or get bumped by flag football or intramural soccer when it rains. We still cannot get access to team weight facilities and as long as I have
been coaching here (7 years), I have been bringing the team to my house to do their weight training.

Coaching Staff:
We are four strong including myself, Charles Zanoli, Mark Madonna and Peter Madonna. Our schedule
consists of Monday morning fitness, Tuesday evening rugby, Wednesday morning fitness, Wednesday
evening rugby, Thursday evening rugby and Saturday game day.

I attend all fitness and rugby sessions and games. Coach Zanoli attends two rugby sessions a week and
home games. Coach Mark Madonna attends two rugby sessions a week, one fitness session and will attend
home games and some away games. Coach Peter Madonna attends two rugby sessions a week, home
games and some away games. The economic climate has affected all of us which requires our attention.
Mark got married before the start of the season, Peter has a wife and young child and Charles and I own
business’ with wives and children so our commitment to this team is a tall order. I have personally traveled
solo to two of our five away games and running three teams is extremely difficult. I have some veteran
players to help with these tasks but many times things slip thru the cracks. I find myself managing more than
coaching this team which is obviously a young team that needs to be coached. I tell you this not to bore you with the details but to provide a clear picture of the commitment the coaches are trying to make to this team.

Present Situation:
As we sit right now, here is a breakdown of the experience level of our first side (22 players):

Ten players in their first year playing for Cal Poly Rugby
Seven returning players but this is their first year in the first side
Five playoff experienced veterans

With such a young team, each week is an opportunity to get a win and get better but it is also a character
builder just to get to the kick off. By no means have we chucked in the towel; we have had too much success in the past to let that happen. Rugby is the junk yard dog of sports and I believe Cal Poly has been the junk yard dog of teams ranked in the top 10 for the last seven years. We have had some tough luck this year but if you speak with the coaches in the Socal premier league, you will hear that we are still very competitive in spite of these challenges. As we stand, our biggest challenge is that we could very well be in the promotion/relegation match with the possibility of moving to Division II if we lose that game. Success isn’t guaranteed every season with this new league structure, which is definitely waking some people up.

By no means is this an excuse, just purely a snapshot of our circumstances as we pass through this season.
Thanks for the kind words and the continued support of our team by keeping us in the rugby consciousness.
Although we are not getting the wins, there is no lack of effort. The players are doing their best to improve
each training session and they should be very proud of their resilience in the face of adversity. I certainly am
proud of them.

Best Regards,

Nick Massman

Head Coach

Cal Poly SLO

Rugby Football Club

“If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.”