There was nothing like an 8AM kickoff time to challenge both the All Blues and New York to bring their A-game to Sunday’s match in Vallejo. Both teams began warming up before the sun came up, beginning the match in a cliche layer of San Francisco Fog. The damp conditions caused both teams a high number of knock-ons and penalties. While New York made a strong effort to use both their pack and back line throughout the game, Berkeley came out on top with dominating scrums, well-utilized kicking, and solid defensive pressure.
The All Blues took a quick 7-0 lead with a try by eight-man Liz Terry and conversion by flyhalf Ruth Bryson. A second try followed shortly after when lock Sarah Walsh dove over the line. Bryson’s conversion put Berkeley ahead 14-0. An excellent effort by scrumhalf Jossy Tseng continued to spin play wide, allowing Berkeley’s back line to challenge New York, eventually resulting in a try by Berkeley’s back Ardia Kelker, with a successful conversion by Bryson to take the game into halftime with a score of 21-0 Berkeley.
New York kicked off in the second half as both teams kept the score stagnant for the first 20 minutes. Eventually the All Blues broke things open as flanker Phoebe Boone and center Lucy Croy dotted down two tries apiece. Bryson converted three of the tries, to bring the final score to 48-0, in favor of the All Blues!
Video of the match is posted on Vimeo.