VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's rugby team will look to regain the 'World Cup," when the second leg of the 91-year old series is played on Sunday at Thunderbird Stadium against the visiting California Golden Bears.
Kickoff is at noon.
"We're a smaller team than they are, but our forwards are pretty good, and the backs, when they are healthy, are not bad," said UBC head coach Spence McTavish.
UBC is looking its first series win since 2006 and its first victory against California since a 24-23 triumph in 2009 at Thunderbird Stadium.
UBC comes into Sunday's game trailing 13-12 in the two-game, total point series.
On February 18, the two schools squared off at Treasure Island, California and the hometown Golden Bears scored the only try of the match in the 74th minute try to overcome the Thunderbirds.
"You'll probably see more scoring, as far as going across the line. Hopefully for us," laughed McTavish about Sunday's game. "Our number one thing is to win the game. "I don't care how many we win by. It would be nice to win the game by two points and bring the cup back home."
California head coach Jack Clark has similar thoughts about the 'Cup,' which was donated in 1921 by publisher John Nelson of the now-defunct
Vancouver Daily World newspaper.
"I don't think either team is thinking about the composite score," said Clark. "For both teams it is `win the match, win the cup.'"
One UBC player will be making his first team debut in the biggest game of the season. Liam Murphy-Burke (Surrey, BC), a member of the Canadian U-19 squad, will dress against California.
"He's a pretty confident player and I think he'll be up to the task but he's definitely going to be under some pressure," said McTavish of Murphy-Burke.
The team will also be missing
Harry Jones, who's with Team Canada at the Hong Kong Sevens.
The Thunderbirds have not played a game since a 31-14 win at St. Mary's (Calif.) on February 21.
"It has been a little bit unfortunate because we had that game against Utah (scheduled for March 16) cancelled," said McTavish. "We've had a couple of schools cancel on us, and I tried to pick up a couple of exhibition games but none of the local clubs were interested because they needed the weekend off to recover. We haven't had any games for five weeks, which doesn't really help us."
But the UBC players have able been able to rest some battered bodies while preparing for a tough, physical matchup against California through fitness work.
-with files from California Sports Information
