On Saturday, January 7, St. Pius X scrimmaged against their
Alumni. The Alumni out-scored this year’s Panthers in a competitive match that
Coach Lowell Locke will certainly use identify areas for improvement. My apologies for missing that match in last
weekend’s report.
This past Saturday, January 14, the Metroplex saw Plano Rugby scrimmage with Alliance Rugby. The U15s played 7s and
the U17/19s played a few, free-substitution periods of 15s.
Plano Rugby President, Nick Marketos said that while Plano
did have a few forwards returning to play this year, they possess an abundance
of backs! The Plano coaches converted some of those backs into forwards for
this scrimmage and were pleasantly surprised with some of the results. We hope
these converts discover it’s more fun in the trenches!
Standouts for Plano in this scrimmage were returning
forward, Jake Haufman, who showed up bigger and stronger than last year and an
inside center recently transplanted from Tennessee, Waldo Raaby, who brings his
considerable rugby experience to the team.
In the Houston-area, the Bay Area Rugby Club (BARC) hosted
some round-robin scrimmaging between the Katy Barbarians, Westside HS, and
themselves on Saturday before the scheduled Men’s Club match.
BARC & Westside started the day with a brief period of
controlled, but contested scrums to give new players the opportunity to feel a
contested scrum outside of a match AND the chance for coaches to safely find
and correct mistakes before taking the pitch. RuckBottom applauds such efforts
by the coaches. The scrum must be fun and safe for the game to be enjoyed!
The first 20 minute period kicked off with Westside vs.
BARC. BARC found momentum and kept their foot on the gas for a few tries. The
second period featured Katy vs. BARC. Katy’s experience found a few tries as
BARC’s lack of fitness began to show.
Westside & BARC took the field again. Westside obviously
switched gears during the interim and found a new one during this period.
Westside used their big men to draw in the BARC defense, then quickly spun the
ball out to show their speed for a couple of tries.
Katy wanted another go, so BARC & Westside combined
their sides for a final period. Katy’s experience and fitness proved too much
as they racked up the tries.
BARC President and Youth Program Director, David Yeoman, stated that
he was pleased with the day and now has all of his rookies hooked on rugby!
Thursday, January 19th, the Stony Point HS rugby club plays their Blue/Gold match at 5:00pm. Coach Rock has already told RuckBottom what he expects this season. We hope to tell you that his expectations are fulfilled on Friday!
The Week Ahead
Thursday, January 19th, the Stony Point HS rugby club plays their Blue/Gold match at 5:00pm. Coach Rock has already told RuckBottom what he expects this season. We hope to tell you that his expectations are fulfilled on Friday!
On Saturday, January 21, RugbyTexas kicks off its 2012
season with a big day of rugby!
At their pitch in Frisco, Plano Rugby scrimmages with Allen
Rugby. Coach Frank Waller’s lads have played a couple of scrimmages to iron out
the kinks, so Plano should be able to find their stride and begin to play with flow.
The Austin
Rugby Club’s Burr
Field plays host to a Day of Rugby Tournament (my term, for lack of an
officially published name) with six clubs playing 14 matches at four age
levels. If you want youth and high school rugby, this is the place to be! Burr Field’s facilities feature three fully
lit and irrigated pitches, a huge clubhouse, and plenty of room to park and
enjoy the day’s matches! From the Texas Rugby Union website, the schedule is as
follows:
10:20am Katy U13 vs McAllen U13 & Westlake JV vs
Alliance U17
11:10am McAllen U15 vs The Woodlands U15 & Westlake
Varsity vs Alliance U19
12:00pm AAHS vs McAllen U19 & McAllen U13 vs The
Woodlands U13
12:50pm Alliance U17 vs McAllen U17 & Katy U15 vs
Alliance U15
1:40pm Alliance U19 vs McAllen U19 & Katy U13 vs The
Woodlands U13
2:30pm Alliance U15 vs McAllen U15 & Westlake U17 vs
McAllen U17
3:20pm Westlake Varsity vs McAllen U19 & Katy U15 vs The
Woodlands U15
In Division-1A action, Texas A&M plays its annual Maroon
& White game to kick off the year. Past seasons have seen this game as a
tryout of sorts for newer players. This year, A&M plays competitively in
two different divisions – D-1A and Texas D2. Bragging rights for the year may
be on the line!
In the Southwest
Collegiate Rugby Conference (D-1AA), Sam Houston State is scheduled for a friendly
warm-up match versus the University of Texas-Dallas on the UTD campus in
Richardson. UTD competes in the Texas CRC Division 3.
In the Texas CRC
Division 2 (D-2), the University of Dallas hosts D-3’s Midwestern State in
a friendly battle.
Finally, in Texas CRC
Division 3 (D-3), Lamar University faces off against Southern Methodist in
Kountze, TX. Both teams are looking for their first win of the season and a
chance to put some points on the board in a big way in this D-3 cup match.