{"id":1015,"date":"2026-03-20T15:51:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=1015"},"modified":"2026-03-20T15:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:51:27","slug":"mustangs-defeat-san-diego-welcome-bruins-to-san-luis-obispo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=1015","title":{"rendered":"Mustangs defeat San Diego, welcome Bruins to San Luis Obispo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><sup>Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mustangs defeated the University of San Diego 66-35 in San Luis Obispo on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, scoring 10 tries en route to a blowout victory over one of D1A\u2019s fastest-rising programs \u2014 and now welcome the UCLA Bruins to the Central Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bruins, ranked No. 17 in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DV1Qx4miDXI\/\">monthly D1A power rankings<\/a>, and Cal Poly will kick off at 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, at the Lower Sports Complex fields in San Luis Obispo, with a B-side match to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bruins were defeated by USD 40-19 in San Diego late last month and haven\u2019t found a level of success this season, on paper, that has been typical of the program in recent seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They, like the Mustangs, have been dealing with injuries. The Bruins have played a gauntlet of a schedule, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve watched different games, and they can be dangerous at any time,\u201d head coach Chris O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThis is the week we played really well last year against Army and UCLA, so we\u2019re hoping to peak at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mustangs roll past Toreros at home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cal Poly scored five first-half tries on the Toreros, ranked No. 16 in the most recent power rankings, who were undefeated in conference play up until last Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re a very good team,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe just have to eliminate a couple of mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those included a vacated ruck in the first half that gave the Toreros a free seven points as the Mustangs were looking to build momentum, and a near-goal-line exit gone awry in the second half that also spotted the Toreros an additional seven.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mustangs also found creative ways to get their playmakers in space \u2014 and Mustangs fans should expect more of the same as the season hits its inflection point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cal Poly matched its first-half try-scoring output in the second half, with a combination of slick handling from the backs and power from the forward pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Toreros won back-to-back D1AA national championships in 2023 and 2024 before entering the top level of college rugby competition last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance The Mustangs defeated the University of San Diego 66-35 in San Luis Obispo on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, scoring 10 tries en route to a blowout victory over one of D1A\u2019s fastest-rising programs \u2014 and now welcome the UCLA Bruins to the Central Coast. The Bruins, ranked No. 17 in the monthly D1A power rankings, and &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mustangs defeat San Diego, welcome Bruins to San Luis Obispo - Mustang Rugby Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=1015\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mustangs defeat San Diego, welcome Bruins to San Luis Obispo - Mustang Rugby Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo courtesy of Sara Dechance The Mustangs defeated the University of San Diego 66-35 in San Luis Obispo on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, scoring 10 tries en route to a blowout victory over one of D1A\u2019s fastest-rising programs \u2014 and now welcome the UCLA Bruins to the Central Coast. The Bruins, ranked No. 17 in the monthly D1A power rankings, and &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/?p=1015\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mustang Rugby Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T15:51:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T15:51:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mustangrugby.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mustangs-vs-SDSU.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ken Allard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ken Allard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ken Allard\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/adb13aeccebcdef62eb73ad484aad134\"},\"headline\":\"Mustangs defeat San Diego, welcome Bruins to San Luis Obispo\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-20T15:51:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T15:51:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015\"},\"wordCount\":364,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Mustangs-vs-SDSU.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.mustangrugby.org\\\/?p=1015\",\"name\":\"Mustangs defeat San Diego, welcome Bruins to San Luis Obispo - 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