USD wins 2023 City Championship
USD rugby kickstarted their 15s campaign with the annual city championship, held at Manchester field on Saturday November 11th. USD would again be crowned as city champs, winning the championship game over Mira Costa college 22-5.
It was a great day of Rugby at USD, with two different competitions happening. Point Loma competed in a round robin with SDSU and USD’s second teams with the intention of getting young players more game time. USD’s second team would lose 5-19 to Point Loma but stormed back for 50-0 margin of victory against their counterparts from SDSU.
The top bracket saw USD play UCSD in one semi-final with SDSU facing Mira Costa in the other. USD were dominant in their semi, with a 46-0 margin of victory over the Tritons. Mira Costa were able to upset SDSU in their side of the bracket, setting up a final between the Toreros and the Spartans.
The Toreros started strong and Devin Hoovel got a try for himself 5 minutes into the match. Mira Costs worked their way up the field and were able to tie the score at 5-5. After a brief territory battle USD were able to kick a penalty deep and set up a maul inside the Mira Costa 22. The forward pack went to work and Drew Young was at the back of the maul to dive over for a score. The 12-5 score would last until halftime, with both teams using the break to regroup and game plan for the final half of the tournament.
The second half was defensive slugfest, with both sided putting their body on the line to prevent their opposition from working their way up the pitch. The lock partnership of Dustin Braun and Brandon Guiducci controlled the grainline for the Toreros, preventing the Spartan pack from getting any go forward. Senior winger Jackson Short would break the game open with 5 minutes left, stepping and going around his opposite number for a 17-5 lead for USD. Josh Butler would seal the game with a score at the death from close range.
The Toreros’ victory kept the San Diego city championship on Torero Way for the 4th year in a row. Overall the day was a great display of collegiate rugby in San Diego county. Over 150 college athletes put their cleats on and played in the tournament, with all the action streamed live by USD’s streaming partner TVX sports.
For USD the performance was even more impressive with an extremely inexperienced forward pack leading the way for USD. The USD first team started 5 players in their first season of rugby in the forward pack, and the moment was in no way too big for the future stars of USD rugby. The pack was led by forwards captain Dustin Braun, who was elected USD’s man of the tournament.
Director of Rugby Kevin Eaton on the performance: “Incredibly impressive performance from a young Toreros team. The forward pack is an incredibly physically and mentally taxing position group, and to see so many players new to the game excel in those roles is very encouraging. Couldn’t be more pleased with the overall display of rugby in the region, with all schools showing well and playing for the crest on their chest.”
