Review Feb 8-10 Texas HS & Collegiate Rugby

It was a long weekend that started on Wednesday night, Feb 8 in the Metroplex as Jesuit Dallas KO'd Coppell 53-0 in their annual Scrum for a Cure match that had been rescheduled from the rainy weekend. The Jesuits looked resplendent in their pink jerseys provided by Knockout Sportswear and Coach Anthony "PinkBeard" Mattacchione had me laughing so hard I scared my dog and cats. I guess when you're tough enough to wear pink...

Jesuit Dallas Coach Anthony "PinkBeard" Mattacchione

Friday night I was in Houston and got to watch St. Thomas defeat Westside HS 79-0. Now the score might show a blowout, but Coach Geary's Wolves played a spirited defense for the whole game and denied the Eagles plenty of times. In the end, Coach Wolfie just has too many weapons on one team, even when he's down three players. 

Captain Parker White moved to #8 for the night and scored a hat-trick, two of those from the base of the scrum. Roderick Blouin moved from wing to outside center. He spent the first half distributing ball to wings Javier Gonzalez and Christian Kelley. He scored a brace between the posts in the first 10 minutes of the second half and then relinquished his position because he blew-out a shoe! Flyhalf Keegan Mills scored once, but his decision-making and ball skills opened many a hole for scores. Mills can also find space with his foot when necessary and he did so often.

A word to the wise: do not kick to the Eagles' back three. Fullback Chris Williams and wings Gonzalez and Kelley are each good under the high ball and have pace to counter swiftly. They were tested on this over-and-over by the Wolves and passed every time.

Westside's center, Obi Akujuobi, looked superb on both sides of the ball. He manned up on Blouin during the first half and denied Blouin the small amount of space he usually needs to find in-goal. Akujuobi only got the ball in his hands twice in backline play, but, let me tell you, this gent can turn and burn! 

Also on Friday night, Stony Point narrowly beat Lake Travis 20-14. The few minutes of this match that were available to watch showed that both teams get their forwards to the breakdowns quickly, both scrumhalves were active field generals (as expected of coaches Rock and Medina), and the defenses formed up quick, thus the relatively low scoring affair. Stony Point may have had a rocky start to the year, but they will not be pushovers. And Lake Travis seems determined to find a way to prevent a shortfall in points on their next match, as well. Expect both of these teams to spoil somebody's rugby day, soon.


I didn't get to see any action from Saturday's matches, but the scores are as follows:

The Woodlands U19 22-22 Westlake Varsity

St Pius X 26-0 Memorial

Kingwood 12-5 Strake Jesuit

From that we can surmise that the Houston-area teams will present defensive troubles for all opponents this year. We already known that Westlake is strong on defense. I like seeing low scores like this at the Youth and HS levels. It shows that the coaches are focusing on defense. As these players move forward, this emphasis will follow them onto the next level(s). 

The Southwest Collegiate Rugby Conference had a re-scheduled match this weekend as Texas State traveled to Denton to be narrowly defeated by North Texas 26-21. Rice warmed up for cup play with a friendly match against HARC's C-side and won 27-5. 

Midwestern State missed downing the Arlington Mavericks by four points in a "stay-warm" friendly before playing next week's D3 semi-final. Arlington outscored them 38-34, though. The Roadrunners of UTSA should come ready to run with the ponies next weekend. That should be a good match.

Finally, Texas A&M traveled to Huntsville and created a VERY lopsided score against Sam Houston, 104-7. While A&M's forward play showed a great work-rate and the back's displayed some creativity, a bad case of the dropsies kept this match from having an extra 50 points (or so) tacked on. The Aggies need to get that issue resolved this week or Soweto B (ArkSt) will take a much quicker advantage of the situation than Sam did. 

The Aggies were very fit. Their #8 and fullback were absolutely phenomenal and speedy! However, Sam this weekend was NOT the Sam of old. When I coached A&M, a trip to Huntsville (or a visit by them) meant you were spending a week or two recuperating from the hard-hitting action regardless of the score. A&M did not run into such opposition on Saturday.