The Union High rugby team finished on a high note during an invitational tournament in San Francisco that featured eight top programs from the western United States.
Scoring the final 38 points of the Saturday match, Union defeated the San Diego Mustangs 38-17 to finish seventh in the eight-team Pacific Cup Rugby Tournament.
Union, the top team in Rugby Oregon’s Varsity Premiership Division for teams with players from one school, lost its first two games at the tournament.
On Thursday, Hawaii state champion Kahuku High School scored three times in the second half for a 29-11 victory after leading Union only 12-6 at halftime.
On Friday, the Bay Barbarians beat Union 29-10.
“All of the teams that we faced, we were physically outmatched,” Union coach David Curle said.
Each of the other seven teams invited to the tournament had bigger, faster, stronger players, and had more of them, according to Curle.
Curle said his team stood up to its opponents physically, but made some uncharacteristic errors and was “intimidated and rattled” by the caliber of the competition.
On Thursday, Kahuku of Hawaii’ scored three times in the second half for a 29-11 victory after leading Union only 12-6 at halftime. On Friday, the Bay Barbarians beat Union 29-10.
Union, seeded seventh entering the tournament, fell behind 17-0 to San Diego in Saturday’s seventh-place match.
But Union turned the tide and scored the next 38 points to win.
“I really don’t know what happened but they just started playing Union rugby,” coach Curle said, explaining that passing and tackling improved as his club finally demonstrated its ability at the high-level event.
Brendon Curle (despite playing with a thigh injury) Avery Longrie and Chris Berry were Union players named to the 15-player all-tournament team.
Union was invited to the Pacific Cup because it is the top single-school program in Rugby Oregon’s high school league. The defending state champion, Union is unbeaten entering the 2016 Rugby Oregon playoffs that begin on Saturday.
In the Varsity Premiership semifinals, Union will face Lincoln of Portland at 9 a.m. Saturday at Delta Park. Portland Pumas (Central Catholic High School) face Oregon City on Friday in the other semifinal.
The state championships and consolation matches will be played on May 21.
In the semifinal round for teams that finished fifth through eighth in the regular season, Prairie will take on Reynolds at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Lents Park in southeast Portland.
In Saturday’s consolation match for the teams at the bottom of the standings, Battle Ground will play Union’s No. 2 team at 1 p.m. at Lents Park.
May 7 rugby results
Prairie and Battle Ground each lost in their last regular-season Rugby Oregon matches, which were played on May 7 at Laurin Middle School. Summit of Bend, Ore, beat Prairie 17-5. Reynolds of Troutdale, Ore., beat Battle Ground 53-19. Injuries have hampered Prairie in recent weeks according to coach John Fletcher, who said Jethro May was the man of the match against Summit and Abe Ayala led Prairie with 19 tackles.
In the Club Championship Division for teams with players from multiple schools, the Valley Rams beat the Clark County Warriors 41-20 at McMinnville, Ore. The Warriors (5-3) face the East Oregon Sasquatch at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Delta Park in a consolation semi final match.
