Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance.
The Mustangs were defeated by the Saint Mary’s Gaels 57-12 on Saturday, Feb. 28, in San Luis Obispo, dropping the toughest conference clash of the season to one of the nation’s top programs.
Cal Poly now looks ahead to playing the Gauchos in Santa Barbara. Kickoff is 1 p.m.
“I thought the guys played really well. When you play against a team like Saint Mary’s, they’re going to pounce on your mistakes,” head coach Chris O’Brien said. “That’s what these really good teams do. And that’s what they did to us.”
The Mustangs scored two second-half tries, including one by former Cal Poly Football player, Tyler Hoffman, and went 1 of 2 on conversion attempts.
Saint Mary’s (6-0 Calif.) capitalized early, scoring three tries in the first 20 minutes.
O’Brien said some of the mistakes plaguing the Mustangs throughout the season showed up against the Gaels. “Restarts,” he said of recurring issues. “I think the biggest mistake in rugby is not to collect your restart and exit properly.” The Mustangs’ defense was spotty with staying connected, too, but O’Brien noted its relative improvement, and said it’s his “big thing” he’ll be looking out for when they play the Gauchos on Saturday.
The Gauchos have not won many games this season. O’Brien also noted that they’re missing several key players currently and have at times throughtout the year. Even so, the Mustangs — as is typical when playing the heated rival — will be focused. “I always tell the guys: I don’t care who the opponent is,” he said. “We want to work on what you know. I want to work on us tomorrow.”
This match is an important one in the final stretch of the season. The Mustangs play fastly rising University of San Diego then finish with UCLA — both at home.
USD defeated the Bruins this season.
“The goal is to win out these next three games and get a good seed,” O’Brien said. “And see where it lands us.”