When we saw the Carmichael Hawks pop up on the San Diego Mustangs schedule, we were stoked. A rising NorCal team with Nationals ambitions against the reigning National champs—what a treat.
Plus, we knew it would be an intriguing clash of styles.
The Hawks run a fluid, exciting style of rugby that has already yielded great results in the NorCal scene, while the Mustangs are a structured squad that oozes talent deep into the bench. Both those elements were on display on Saturday at Santa Fe Christian School.
The Mustangs struck first from their platform of choice—the lineout/maul combo. After that initial try, it was several minutes of back-and-forth momentum before the Mustangs added another try to the scoreboard.
📸 Adam Taich
Carmichael found early success being aggressive at the breakdown and attacking with a variety of forward tip-passes and clever footwork by their flyhalf, Devin Pointes. They’re a side you can’t fall asleep on. Part scrappy, part creative, and fully committed throughout the match, the Hawks did a great job keeping the Mustangs on their toes.
Regardless, the Mustangs are loaded this season and showed off incredible depth—swapping players regularly as the game wore on with no drop in production on the field. Alex Brydson, who had been nursing an injury, brought a noticeable spark when he entered the game at scrumhalf. And Duck Choy kicked his dent in the game with a highlight-worthy score late.
At halftime, it was all Mustangs, holding a 17-0 advantage. But massive credit to the Carmichael boys, who found their groove after the break and brought the score to 24-14 with only 10 minutes left. That’s the closest it would get, however.
Just as Carmichael was knocking on the door, Mustangs #10 Rees Curtis launched a kick deep into the Hawks’ territory, where the Mustangs chasers managed to force a handling error by Carmichael and touched it down for the score. Shortly after, Duck Choy had his moment: Dylan Trower galloped through several defenders, hit Bradan Scott with an offload, and the ball found its way into Choy’s mitts. He did the rest — bulldozing the last defender and dotting the ball down for the last score of the game.
Dylan Trower set the pace at #12 all game.
📸 Adam Taich
The scoreboard read 36-14 at full time, Mustangs on top.
The Hawks played with heart right to the final whistle, but the Mustangs—clinical on both sides of the ball—showed why they’re the reigning champs.
“Mustangs are a well-oiled machine. Their attack is fast and organized. Their defense is disruptive at the breakdown. Their set piece creates scoring opportunity. We kept the game close into the closing period but ultimately they won the day. We are grateful for the opportunity and the way in which they hosted us on the final day of our tour.”
We’d heard good things about Carmichael, and they delivered. They’ll be a tough out for whoever they play. Our group is starting to jell. They rose the level against a quality team, which is always nice to see the mid part of the season.
Riot Take:
We’ve said this before, but the Carmichael Hawks are just plain fun to watch. We’d love to see them get a shot at Nationals this year. They’ve played the Mustangs as close as anybody this season, and they have electric playmakers across the park.
The Mustangs might be deeper this year than last year, when they won a national title. That’s a scary proposition for opponents. Nationals often boils down to who can survive a three-day slugfest in Elkhart—the Mustangs have the depth for that. Consider this: when you have a guy like Duck Choy who can come off the bench and help close out a game, there’s a term for that—an embarrassment of riches.