RugbyMag published their First-of-the-Season College 7s Top 25 today with the ARC's Texas A&M slotted at 18th and Oklahoma at 20th.
The rankings of these two clubs present no issue, but I think it remiss to leave Texas out of this group. The Longhorns played well in pool play in Philly ending day one at 2-1. On day two, they got beat by Cal, the eventual #3 team at the CRC. They benefit from more consistent leadership than days gone by, several returning players, and a tough fall 7s schedule.
Texas should make some strides into this ranking throughout the fall season because their 7s schedule will afford their 1st VII a ruckload of minutes together. You see, the Longhorns plan to play 7s in both conferences (SWC & ARC) this fall. They plan to use the SWC qualifying tournament to qualify for Nationals. So their fall 7s Schedule will look something like this:
Sept 15 SWC Round 1 at UHouston
Sept 29 SWC Round 2 at TCU (Ft Worth, TX)
Oct 6 ARC North Tourney at Oklahoma (Norman, OK)
Oct 20 SWC Championship at St Edward's (Austin, TX)
Nov 3 ARC South Tourney in Austin, TX
Nov 10 ARC Championship location TBD
Assuming the Longhorns qualify for the USAR Collegiate 7s National Championship Tournament through the SWC (and I see nothing stopping that anabasis), this team should have plenty of experience together to surprise some folks on November 30th.
The rankings of these two clubs present no issue, but I think it remiss to leave Texas out of this group. The Longhorns played well in pool play in Philly ending day one at 2-1. On day two, they got beat by Cal, the eventual #3 team at the CRC. They benefit from more consistent leadership than days gone by, several returning players, and a tough fall 7s schedule.
Texas should make some strides into this ranking throughout the fall season because their 7s schedule will afford their 1st VII a ruckload of minutes together. You see, the Longhorns plan to play 7s in both conferences (SWC & ARC) this fall. They plan to use the SWC qualifying tournament to qualify for Nationals. So their fall 7s Schedule will look something like this:
Sept 15 SWC Round 1 at UHouston
Sept 29 SWC Round 2 at TCU (Ft Worth, TX)
Oct 6 ARC North Tourney at Oklahoma (Norman, OK)
Oct 20 SWC Championship at St Edward's (Austin, TX)
Nov 3 ARC South Tourney in Austin, TX
Nov 10 ARC Championship location TBD
Assuming the Longhorns qualify for the USAR Collegiate 7s National Championship Tournament through the SWC (and I see nothing stopping that anabasis), this team should have plenty of experience together to surprise some folks on November 30th.