In their last home game of the fall season, the San Diego Surfers women’s rugby team kept up their intensity with their third straight lopsided win, this time a 76-0 victory over the Long Beach Coast, on Sept. 23 at Robb Field in Ocean Beach.

The game started slow as both teams came out of the gate raring to go. The Surfers received first and ran the kick-off return to the 45-meter line before being stopped by the defense. The Surfers managed to keep the ball, but Coast fought to poach it from under the ruck.

Coast managed to steal the ball, but a knock-on gave the possession back to the Surfers in the first scrum. The ball came out and was quickly whipped out to the back line. The Surfers managed to crash through the Coast defense, but after the third ruck they lost possession of the ball and Coast was on the offense for the first time in the game.

An unfortunate knock-on gave the scrum back to the Surfers, who promptly lost the ball due to a dropped pass. The Surfers quickly recovered and regained possession after stopping Coast at the gain line.

A couple more give-and-takes of possession resulted in the ball finding its way into touch. Coast won the line-out, but failed to make any headway up the field.

Some good defense by the Coast forced the Surfers to pass the ball out to the wing and try running up the outside, but an effective screen by Coast kept stopping them from gaining too much ground. A quick adjustment and the Surfers managed to break through the center, gaining not only field position but also setting up their backline support.

As the Surfers crashed through the center, making small gains, Coast overcommitted and a Surfers runner found herself out front with nothing but open field. A short 15-meter run later and the Surfers had struck first blood with a score to the outside.

The Surfers scored three more times by the end of the first half. Both teams seemed evenly matched in the line-outs and scrums, but the rucks belonged to the Surfers. This allowed the Surfers to control the pace of the game and maintain possession of the ball throughout. Once they had the ball, the Surfers usually managed to keep it moving forward and gradually find the hole or crash through the Coast defense to score.

A couple of breakaway plays by the Surfers in the second half showed that Coast was fatiguing. The Surfers showed good fitness throughout the second half, outrunning Coast and making good tackles, providing support both for the runners and in the rucks. Passes were made and caught, providing them a quick turnover and the opportunity to break away from the defense. By the end of the match, the Surfers had scored nine more times.

The true test for the Surfers will come in the next two weeks as they take on the Belmont Shore Landsharks (Saturday, Sept. 30) and the Scottsdale Lady Blues (Saturday, Oct. 7) in away games. Both opponents beat the Surfers last spring during close contests, and both are regarded as teams to beat in the league.

Surfers head coach Nate Gallow said he was proud of the Surfers’ performance on the pitch during this win.

“I tried to get as many rookies in the game as possible, but was limited by rules to the number of substitutions I could make,” he said. “I guess it is a good problem to have, seeing as many female clubs struggle to have 15 girls even show up. The veterans were very understanding, stepping aside to let the rookies get some playing time, as well as giving them – on the field – support and instruction.”

Gallow said he wanted to play as many new girls as possible because the next two games against Belmont and Scottsdale will be much tougher competition and he can’t guarantee all team members will get playing time on the field.

“We have an incredible amount of talent, so our focus for the next couple weeks is going to be how to play smarter rugby,” he said.

The San Diego Surfers, members of the Southern California Rugby Football Union, practice on Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Robb Field in Ocean Beach. The team is always accepting new players. For more information, visit www.sdsurfersrugby.com.