TX College Rugby Roundup - Oct 6-7

The Allied Rugby Conference held it's first 7s tournament on Saturday and Texas A&M battled back from a yellow card before halftime to defeat Colorado State by a score of 12-5 in the final of the ARC 7s Tournament in a cold and blustery Norman, OK. 

The Sooners blanked their opposition in pool play, but possessed no answers for the questions the Aggies posed in the semi-final match. Colorado State nipped A&M in pool play and their win over Oklahoma State in the semis prompted a rematch in the final - a fitting conclusion on the day, as Pool A turned out to be a tough one. The Texas Tech offense slipped by the Aggies and the Rams more times than either desired. Both had a battle keeping the Red Raiders from riding the dark horse to the semifinals.

A&M's Coach Brett Mills said the Aggies felt "pretty damn good!" about winning this tournament. Taking three full 7s sides on the road produced exactly the results Mills wanted going into next weekend's Southeastern Conference qualifier. The Aggie 1st VII had to play a very good game on the day because there were others wanting to don an Aggie jersey in Mobile, Alabama on Oct 13th.

OU supporter Astrud Reed took a bunch of great shots of this tournament. My favorites are of the OSU player warming up in Carhartt overalls and the OU player jogging with a "Star of Hope" (AKA the Dallas Cowboys, who are currently 98-98 in this century) blanket wrapped around his waist!

Also, Pat Clifton covered the tournament in a RugbyMag article.

The Southwest Rugby Conference held an invitational XVs tournament at Burr Field in Austin, TX this weekend in conjunction with the Austin Blacks' match versus Alamo City and the two inaugural Lonestar Rugby Conference matches. 

My favorite story from this tournament is the University of Houston Rugby Club (UH) that went 2-2 on the day AND brought 15 players to Austin who had never played XVs rugby before! 

UH has been a fringe team for years, flitting in and out of all the Texas Collegiate Rugby Divisions. With 44,000 undergraduate students on two campuses in Houston proper (not counting the small Clear Lake campus), I've always wondered what kept UH from being a more consistent competitive rugby club. 

UH graduated most of their core players last year and those that stayed have focused on rebuilding the team this year. Their efforts are off to a great start. They battled through the 1st SWC 7s Tournament as a learning experience that propelled them to a 3-0 day at the 2nd SWC 7s Tournament. It was seriously difficult to discern that so many new players stepped on the pitch that day. This weekend they lost to St Edward's & Texas State, two clubs so serious about XVs that they have their 2nd sides developing by competing in the Lonestar Conference. UH has every reason to hold their heads high and look forward to a fun season in which they may be the surprise of the SWC!

The Lonestar Conference kicked off their season on Saturday with four matches. This is Texas' Collegiate Division 2 and we'll be hard-pressed to find a more tooth and nail tough conference playing this level of rugby. 

UTD's scrumhalf Cameron Brussard dotting a try.

UT-Dallas and the University of Dallas met at the UTD pitch in Richardson, TX for a twilight match on Saturday. UTD came out on top 33-24, but had to earn it as they subbed in liberally at the half to get game time for their players (their numbers are more on par with a D! club) and UD took advantage by closing the gap enough to make the game close. UTD regrouped afterward and closed the match with a final try to seal the win. This is a good way for UTD to open the regular season and it shows that they learned some lessons at the St Edward's Tournament where they were 3-1.

UTD's Coach Tony Wagner has a great blog in which he dissects this match and talks about next week's friendly versus UN. The UTD website also has a page of great pics from the match. 

Midwestern State hosted Southern Methodist in Wichita Falls on Saturday. The Midwestern Mustangs galloped over the Methodist Mustangs with a score of 20-5 (according to the referee). MWSU Coach (and fellow Old Maroon) Rod Puentes thought his team left a couple of tries on the field, but was still proud of the result. Photographer Bradley Wilson posted a nice slideshow of the match on Flickr. 

Cardinal Rugby of Lamar University in Beaumont pipped St Edward's 2nd XV 34-15 at Burr Field early Saturday morning. UT-San Antonio also played the Texas St 2nds that morning but we have yet to retrieve scores for that match. 

As always, thank you for reading. Please don't hesitate to correct me or provide content as necessary!