The Holy Bowl is an intense rivalry between San Diego high schools Cathedral Catholic and St Augustine; it’s been contested in many sports for over 70 years, and in rugby for 14, including Friday night.

The Saints jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after two minutes when their speedy center Caleb Aguirre broke through the Dons defense for a long run. The Dons defense was able to catch him five meters from paydirt, but St. Augustine recycled quickly and over they went. Lucca Rohrer converted and the Saints led 7-0. Moments later Rohrer slotted a penalty to make it 10-0.

The Dons fought back with Lewis Case scoring the first of his two tries. This one came off a ruck and Case sliced through the Saints defense. Spencer Huntley to make it 10-7. Huntley then banged over a penalty to tie the game at 10-10 after 20 minutes.

Tenacious defense by the Dons kept pressure on the Saints and with minutes to go in the half Dons Huntley fired a perfect pass off the base of a ruck to center Sean Kagen, who went over in the corner. Now Cathedral led 15-10.

 

As the second half started both sides used their strong kicking games to try to force an advantage. Both sides’ wings and fullbacks played exceptionally well in fielding the kicks and counter attacking. After 10 minutes of back-and-forth, the Saints were penalized and Huntley again slotted a penalty making it 18-10 Dons.

View the complete story on Goff Rugby Report.