PROVO — Things didn’t start out so bad for BYU rugby Saturday afternoon at South Field.

Even though visiting California-Berkeley opened the scoring just 14 minutes into the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup final, BYU answered with consecutive tries and took a 14-12 lead at halftime.

The Cougars’ lead swelled to 29-19 after 65 minutes, when the Golden Bears missed a penalty kick.

But an 80-minute rugby match isn’t played over 65 minutes.

Nicklas Boyer had two tries, and the No. 2 Golden Bears scored 21 unanswered points to stun No. 1 BYU 40-29, preventing the Cougars from winning their fifth-straight national championship.

“In all honesty, I thought Cal were better all-around over 80 minutes,” BYU coach David Smyth said. “I think they were more physical than us on breakdowns and more dialed into what they were trying to do. We were slow in trying to respond to that.”

Cal (20-2) was the historical blue blood in its longstanding rivalry with BYU, a varsity sports program that has been around since 1882. But BYU (22-1) has gotten the better of the Bears recently, including three straight wins in the title game since the inception of the Varsity Cup.

Saturday was a day for payback. Cal rugby can rarely play the underdog card, but the Bears used it to their advantage. Cal was more physical, more prepared and more ready to ascend to the top of collegiate rugby’s premier division.

“Being hungrier and humbler will help,” said team captain Ara Elkington, who addressed the media with a bandage over his left eye that had as little as 50 percent vision at one point. “They know they aren’t unbeatable. We had a good record, but to have this loss today was probably the best thing for our program.

“This loss means we’re not unbeatable. We’re not giants. We’re another team that got beat by a good team. We need to do a little more preparation mentally.”

BYU’s Tua Laie sprinted down the right sideline to give the Cougars a 29-19 lead in the 55th minute and cap a 15-7 run to open the second half. But it would be the last time BYU got over the line as Cal won its first national championship since 2011.

“We played with a lot of heart, I thought, against a very extraordinary team,” Cal coach Jack Clark said. “It’s not easy to be in the game in the last 20 minutes (against BYU). But I think because we were, we gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Anthony Slaber scored with 10 minutes remaining, and Boyer dived in three minutes later to give Cal a 33-29 lead — its first advantage since Lucas Donne gave the Bears a 5-0 lead in the 14th minute.

The first time, BYU responded with a pair of tries from Zach Webber and veteran leader Elkington, the latter coming from an incredible setup pass by Joe Pikula inside the 20-yard line.

Cal’s Zach Tavenner slid under the bar with 10 minutes left in the first half for a try, but BYU clung to a 14-12 lead at the break thanks to a pair of two-point conversions from Calvin Whiting.

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BYU rugby not taking rival Cal lightly ahead of 4th-straight title pairing

The BYU rugby team is one match away from its fifth-straight national championship, and the fourth-straight Varsity Cup title. But standing in the Cougars’ way is long-time nemesis Cal, whom BYU could tie for second-most consecutive national titles all-time with a win Saturday in the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup final at South Field.

“I think we felt it,” Cal’s Michael Bush said about the change in momentum. “At times, you could see the emotions on both sides. It just happened that the last 20 minutes were for us, and we really captured that moment.”

Even as the Cougars clung to the lead for most of the second half, they never seemed completely comfortable. Cal dominated the lineouts, taking out-of-bound balls away from BYU with ease and forcing turnovers deep in Cougar territory.

The time was right for the Golden Bears to reclaim college rugby’s top spot, and not even a severe road disadvantage of the 5,000 fans at South Field or high winds that plagued most of the match could do anything to stop them.

“It was unforgettable,” Bush said. “It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Cal doesn’t always get to play as the underdog in college rugby. But when it got the chance, the Bears relished the moment — and a victory that will go down in the annals of Cal rugby.

“It’s a legendary win,” Clark said. “I told the boys in the locker room that they should be very proud.

“It’s a win for the ages. We acknowledged how good (BYU) were, but tried to keep it real. You don’t have to concede anything. We wanted to give them their due; they’re big at forward, big at the backs, athletic. We put in a plan, and the players had to be great on this day.”

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Penn State 15, BYU 5 — At Moraga, California, the Nittany Lions jumped out to a 15-0 lead and strangled the upstart Cougars to win their fifth straight national title and 11th championship in program history in the finals of the USA Rugby Division I Elite tournament.

The Lions held BYU scoreless until U.S. international Jordan Gray scurried down the field 5 yards from goal to set up Rebekah Hebdon for the first-year extramural club’s lone try in the 79th minute.

The BYU club, which was founded in 2004 but given extramural sanctioning last October, was making its first-ever appearance in a national championship match.

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