St. Mary's Wins College Rugby Title

The Saint Mary's College of California Gaels from Moraga, California defeated the Naval Academy 26-22 to win their fourth national championship. It is the Gaels' first title since 2017.

St. Mary's (18-0) jumped out to a 26-5 lead over Navy (17-2) and held off a comeback by the Midshipmen late.

Within the first few minutes the Gaels were on top. Overpursuit from the Navy defense left a gap for Dominic Besag to sidestep and cut through. The center and Scholz Award finalist was through untouched and was over. Mario Storti converted and the Gaels were ahead 7-0. Playing quick and spreading the field, the Gaels did it again. This time Besag drew the attention of two defenders who weren't going to let the center beat them again he wrapped around for an offload to his center partner Erich Storti, and Storti sidestepped his way to paydirt. The conversion was good for a 14-0 lead.

Teams exchanged possessions for the next 10 minutes, John Battle put the next points on the board for the Gaels as John Battle Wilson took a pass from Besag and charged over Navy’s try line. Another conversion by Mario Storti made the score 21–0 Saint Mary’s.

Navy did not go quietly into the half. The Midshipmen capitalized on a forward pass by Saint Mary’s—a play not allowed in rugby—which turned the ball over to Navy. Team Captain Ben Haugh managed to push over the SMC try line to make the score 21–5 at halftime. 

Dominic Besag reached Sosaia Pongi, who ran across the try line, putting the Gaels up 26–5.

After that Navy really found their footing and began pushing the ball methodically toward the Saint Mary’s try line. The Gaels fought hard at the line itself to keep the Midshipmen at bay, but Navy’s William Webb managed to get the ball across. A conversion from the flank made the score 26–12. Vaughn Schmitz added another as he managed to find a wrinkle and get the ball across the line, a successful conversion made it 26–19.

Navy intercepted a Saint Mary’s lineout and found themselves close enough to go for a kick. Roanin Krieger put it between the posts for Navy, that was good for three points, making the score 26–22. And with the momentum Navy seemed to have, they continued the attack.

Saint Mary's continued to hold off Navy and the defense continually managed to push the ball back, even into Navy territory. The Midshipmen dropped the ball a couple of times and took hard hits from the Gaels. Even so, with the clock past 80 minutes and only injury time remaining, Navy surged forward once more and managed to push the ball close to the Gaels’ try line. The Gaels’ came up with a crucial interception to regain possession in the final seconds.

Saint Mary's road to the title started with a rout of Grand Canyon 78-7 in the first round, beat California 34-16 in the quarterfinals and 46-31 over BYU in the semifinals.

Watch highlights here:  Saint Mary's vs. Navy

BOX SCORE
First Half
1:49 - Try - St. Mary's (0-5)
Conversion Kick - St. Mary's (0-7)
4:30 - Try - St. Mary's (0-12)
Conversion Kick - St. Mary's (0-14)
24:58 - Try - St. Mary's (0-19)
Conversion Kick - St. Mary's (0-21)
34:25 - Try - Navy - Ben Haugh (5-21)

Second Half
41:30 - Try - St. Mary's (5-26)
49:41 - Try - Navy - William Webb (10-26)
Conversion Kick - Roanin Krieger (12-26)
66:22 - Try - Navy - Vaughn Schmitz (17-26)
Conversion Kick - Roanin Krieger (19-26)
69:35 - Penalty Kick - Roanin Krieger (22-26)