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.