Texas A&M tops Rice 70-6

Saturday, Texas A&M played a friendly, developmental XVs match against Rice University on Rice's home pitch. Rice's Head Coach, Mario Botha, requested a XVs match because playing "A&M has more value long term." A&M's Coach, Brett Mills, used the one match to evaluate his 1st & 2nd XVs and to rid his teams' initial anxieties.

The Aggies played their 1st XV in the first half. Center Jan Young and prop Dickson Garnett dotted a brace apiece with wing and sevens specialist Brian Guillen adding the fifth try of the first half. Flyhalf Conor Mills demonstrated his clinical conversion rate going 5 for 5 into the wind in the first half. But, the flyhalf and captain had to watch another clinical display in the second half as up-and-coming Rob Larsen equaled the feat. The Ags put an entirely different XV on the pitch in the second half (this was a friendly developmental match) and produced the same results. Sophomore center Grayson Dowlearn led the way in the second half claiming his brace. Prop Garrett Dishman, fish (Aggie term for freshman) flanker Danny Amsler, and center Andrew McMath each placed one down in-goal, as well. The Aggies did manage to concede a couple of penalties within range of Rice's kicker, though. Thus, the score at full time read 70-6.

Coach Botha knows that his team needs to work on attack and defense, but was "pleased with adjustments made by junior Andrew Wilson at flyhalf as it was his first real game there." He also stated that captain and loose head prop Agha Nkama and new #8 Matt Hoffman played well, adding that Rice has rare depth at some positions and that fact may disappoint (or improve) some players this year.

Ball's Out!

Coach Mills had nothing but praise for his opponents stating, “I think Rice is a very good team and Mario is an exceptional coach. They were a playoff team last year and will be again this year. The Owls are fundamentally sound and hard physically. Rice gave us an excellent challenge and the final score is no way indicative of the quality of this opponent.”

Rice has the put in at scrum time.

Coach Mills wants to create a culture at A&M Rugby in which the standard is a high level of play every time the Aggies take to the pitch.  Every match should be played as if the opponent is the defending national champion. To do that  he wants them to dominate the opposition physically and create as few mistakes as possible. In their first match of the season, A&M made numerous impact tackles, many resulting in turnovers that A&M turned into scoring opportunities. But the first game of the year jitters were there, too. Mills expressed dismay with the Aggies handling errors and breakdown penalties, especially the "diving-over" penalties. This is something A&M's forwards need to have in check before they travel to LSU in November. 

Mills enjoyed seeing some individual bright spots on the day. Dickson Garnett, in his first start at tighthead, garnered a brace on the day, but really needs to focus on fitness to fill the shoes of the graduated Braden Coleman at that position. Another first-time starter, Josh Fojtik , couldn't play last spring. So, Mills was pleasantly surprised to see Fojtik all around the pitch showing the workrate that he expects out of a flanker.  The second half also gave opportunity for back Matt Theodore, a fish from Plano, and lock Francisco Brito, a transfer from TCU, to stand out with ball in hand. All-in-all, Coach Mills is happy that the new blood is challenging the veterans on a team that is seeing 80+ at practices this fall. 

Mad Scramble for the ball!

A special thanks goes out to Rice Rugby supporter, Bill Arnold, for taking such great pics of the second half and making them available online (these are the ones you see here). The ARC has more photos from this match, too.

Time to offload!

Owls poaching ball.

Owls tackling an Aggie.

Aggies secure the ruck.

INCOMING!