Aggies Claim ARC 7s Series Championship
"The Aggies were grouped in Pool A along with University of Texas and Texas Tech. According to the Longhorn coaching staff, UT rested its starters the previous weekend in order to be ready for the finals, posing a big threat to the Aggies. Texas Tech is one of the more athletic teams in the competition and produced some big wins so far this year, making the pool the strongest in the competition.
"The Aggies started strong against Texas Tech with Matt Theodore and Lukas Jacobson scoring tries. However, the Red Raiders scored right before the half after a defensive lapse by the Aggies making the score 14-7. After making adjustments at halftime, A&M came out strong with Conor Mills and J.D. Smiley finishing off the scoring and giving the Aggies a 26-7 win.
"The second match against UT was a hard-fought affair with early scoring going back and forth. The Longhorns scored first to take a quick 5-0 lead, but the Aggies answered with a Jacobson try a short time later, tying the game at five a-piece. UT scored again right before the half giving them a 12-5 lead. The Aggies continued to struggle until Mills made a break, cutting up the Longhorn defense before off-loading to Danny Amsler who cruised in for the score in the corner. Mills made a monster conversion from the sideline for a 14-12 lead. Theodore put the icing on the cake with a try at thirteen minutes, however, the Aggies had to scramble after the restart because Andres Diaz was yellow-carded with a minute remaining. The Aggies played ferocious defense, keeping Texas out of the in-goal and came away with a 19-12 victory and first place in Pool A.
"In the semi-final match-up TAMU faced Sam Houston State. Sam Houston has improved a great deal throughout the season and it was exciting to see them advance to the knock-out rounds. Unfortunately for the Bearkats, the faced a hungry Aggie squad. Texas A&M crushed Sam 50-0 with Chris Frazier scoring three tries and Jacobson, Smiley, Durke, Mills, and McMath all adding scores. Oklahoma played Tech in the other final and were shocked by an offensive onslaught by the Red Raiders who came away with a huge upset victory.
"The final was a rematch of the first game of the day and the Aggies wasted no time in asserting their dominance with a Frazier try 45 seconds into the match. Theodore and Jacobson added tries and it looked like the Aggies were going to blow out Tech, however, they came back with two quick tries of their own narrowing the gap to 21-12 at halftime. Adjustments were once again made and the Aggies stormed through the second half with Smiley, Mills, and Theodore scoring tries. Mills was a perfect 6 for 6 on conversions and A&M cruised to a 42-12 victory. The victory clinched the ARC 7s Series Championship and secured tournament victory number four. It was an incredible weekend for the Aggies, who also won the JV championship (more on this in different post). The Aggies are now 17-1 this season and excited about the national championships.
"Conor Mills had another spectacular weekend, leading the Aggies with 45 points. Chris Frazier continues to thrill fans with long runs that produced four tries on the day. Freshman sensation Matt Theodore had a four try performance and was fantastic on defense all day. Lukas Jacobson added another four tries with some key runs during the tournament and Andres Diaz had a dominating defensive performance. As has become the custom, another brilliant team effort to win the championship!"
Texas A&M has a trip to Baton Rouge scheduled for Saturday, the first in home-and-away matches with LSU.
St Edward's versus North Texas at Burr Field
Everyone who knows UNT's Coach Art Anderson expects a rugby team coached by him to throw their bodies into the game without regard to their own health and sanity (this is a positive thing, for those few readers not accustomed to our fair sport!). Since the late 90s, when Art played Mean Green Rugby, the university side from Denton has been known for this. St Edward's got EXACTLY what they expected out of UNT and knew they had to wear down the Mean Green Machine in order to beat them down the stretch. On top of that challenge, the Hilltoppers (an alpha mountain goat, for the uninitiated) stood toe-to-toe with UNT a man down for 65 minutes!
Fifteen minutes into the match with the score 0-0, Referee Andy Cuthbert went to his pocket - sending off a St Edward's winger for a dump tackle. Such a situation devastates many teams, but St Edward's had prepared to play a man down and the team executed their system of cover and contain. SEU Coach Brannen Ellyson calls it "not sticking to set pieces and playing what is in front of you." Think playing dynamic speed-chess versus playing a gambit. And it worked.
SEU was able to dot a brace before UNT got one. This went back and forth until SEU held a tentative 22-20 lead. Mean Green had exploited the blank spot a few times, something SEU could not afford to allow again. But late in the game when everyone is tired, the Hilltoppers' cover defense - one that requires an opposing offense to make too many passes (resulting in eventual mistakes) OR that requires that same offense to keep the ball moving to the inside channels - proved more successful than the body-slamming aggression of UNT's ferocity. SEU was able to tire out the visitors and dot another brace late in the game to put it away, 34-20.
SEU's Man of the Match was freshman fullback, Richard Alanis, who made try-saving tackle after try-saving tackle. Coach Ellyson describes him as "the smallest guy on the field making the biggest impact with his heart really helping to bolster the spirit of a team playing almost a whole game a man down."
SEU's Head Coach, Lachlan Ferguson tells his charges at every practice session, "Set high expectations for each other, respect you opponents, but the true competition is yourself."
That, folks, is the attitude of a team to beat.
St Edward's is in action this Friday night in San Marcos, TX, when they take on Texas State in two conference matches (SWC & Lonestar).
TCU versus UHouston in Ft. Worth, TX
The Cougars went into this game prepared to play a hard game of rugby. The Frogs entered this game prepared to win. Therein lies the difference. TCU emerged victorious 42-5.
TCU's upswing in their rugby program thrills me to no end. Their real first test should come this Saturday on the road at Rice University. Coach Mario Botha's boys are some hungry Owls and they might be thinking Horned Frog would make a good meal.
LeTourneau University at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX
My pick for this game was wrong. I won't try and hide it. LeTourneau's Coach Freddie van Reenen had his team ready to play. Their defense held. Their offense did just enough. And all that against a club that has been in Texas College rugby for years. Kudos to the LeTourneau Yellowjackets on their first win, 19-12 over UDallas!
LeTourneau hosts Midwestern State next week, while UDallas makes the short jaunt across town to play SMU.
Angelo State versus St Edward's Developmental XV at Burr Field in Austin, TX
Angelo State made the long trip from San Angelo, TX to Austin and were ready to play a hard, rough-and-tumble match against St Edward's Developmental XVs Squad. ASU led at the half 25-17 and tacked on four more tries in the second half to end it 53-22.
SEU's Coach Ellyson bemoans the loss but says, "These kids will play and get better. In a few years they will be the leaders of this team." Too true. Teams putting their 2nd XVs through real competition - matches with consequences - are the teams with a vision for a term longer than just this season. St Edward's is a program in the making.
ASU hosts UT-San Antonio's RoadRunner Rugby next weekend.
UT-Dallas versus Southern Methodist at UTD Field 6 in Richardson, TX
Coaches Tony Wagner & "Bear" Hinson steer a juggernaut! 73-14 over the team that Wagner used to coach, SMU. The referee reported the score did not indicate the amount of fight SMU brought. It's nice to see respect and sportsmanship at this level of the game today. This bodes well for all of us!
I'd ask who can stop the Comet, but UNT already has and Oklahoma will throw themselves in front of it next weekend in Norman, OK.
Everyone who knows UNT's Coach Art Anderson expects a rugby team coached by him to throw their bodies into the game without regard to their own health and sanity (this is a positive thing, for those few readers not accustomed to our fair sport!). Since the late 90s, when Art played Mean Green Rugby, the university side from Denton has been known for this. St Edward's got EXACTLY what they expected out of UNT and knew they had to wear down the Mean Green Machine in order to beat them down the stretch. On top of that challenge, the Hilltoppers (an alpha mountain goat, for the uninitiated) stood toe-to-toe with UNT a man down for 65 minutes!
Fifteen minutes into the match with the score 0-0, Referee Andy Cuthbert went to his pocket - sending off a St Edward's winger for a dump tackle. Such a situation devastates many teams, but St Edward's had prepared to play a man down and the team executed their system of cover and contain. SEU Coach Brannen Ellyson calls it "not sticking to set pieces and playing what is in front of you." Think playing dynamic speed-chess versus playing a gambit. And it worked.
SEU was able to dot a brace before UNT got one. This went back and forth until SEU held a tentative 22-20 lead. Mean Green had exploited the blank spot a few times, something SEU could not afford to allow again. But late in the game when everyone is tired, the Hilltoppers' cover defense - one that requires an opposing offense to make too many passes (resulting in eventual mistakes) OR that requires that same offense to keep the ball moving to the inside channels - proved more successful than the body-slamming aggression of UNT's ferocity. SEU was able to tire out the visitors and dot another brace late in the game to put it away, 34-20.
SEU's Man of the Match was freshman fullback, Richard Alanis, who made try-saving tackle after try-saving tackle. Coach Ellyson describes him as "the smallest guy on the field making the biggest impact with his heart really helping to bolster the spirit of a team playing almost a whole game a man down."
SEU's Head Coach, Lachlan Ferguson tells his charges at every practice session, "Set high expectations for each other, respect you opponents, but the true competition is yourself."
That, folks, is the attitude of a team to beat.
St Edward's is in action this Friday night in San Marcos, TX, when they take on Texas State in two conference matches (SWC & Lonestar).
TCU versus UHouston in Ft. Worth, TX
The Cougars went into this game prepared to play a hard game of rugby. The Frogs entered this game prepared to win. Therein lies the difference. TCU emerged victorious 42-5.
TCU's upswing in their rugby program thrills me to no end. Their real first test should come this Saturday on the road at Rice University. Coach Mario Botha's boys are some hungry Owls and they might be thinking Horned Frog would make a good meal.
My pick for this game was wrong. I won't try and hide it. LeTourneau's Coach Freddie van Reenen had his team ready to play. Their defense held. Their offense did just enough. And all that against a club that has been in Texas College rugby for years. Kudos to the LeTourneau Yellowjackets on their first win, 19-12 over UDallas!
LeTourneau hosts Midwestern State next week, while UDallas makes the short jaunt across town to play SMU.
Angelo State versus St Edward's Developmental XV at Burr Field in Austin, TX
Angelo State made the long trip from San Angelo, TX to Austin and were ready to play a hard, rough-and-tumble match against St Edward's Developmental XVs Squad. ASU led at the half 25-17 and tacked on four more tries in the second half to end it 53-22.
SEU's Coach Ellyson bemoans the loss but says, "These kids will play and get better. In a few years they will be the leaders of this team." Too true. Teams putting their 2nd XVs through real competition - matches with consequences - are the teams with a vision for a term longer than just this season. St Edward's is a program in the making.
ASU hosts UT-San Antonio's RoadRunner Rugby next weekend.
UT-Dallas versus Southern Methodist at UTD Field 6 in Richardson, TX
Coaches Tony Wagner & "Bear" Hinson steer a juggernaut! 73-14 over the team that Wagner used to coach, SMU. The referee reported the score did not indicate the amount of fight SMU brought. It's nice to see respect and sportsmanship at this level of the game today. This bodes well for all of us!
I'd ask who can stop the Comet, but UNT already has and Oklahoma will throw themselves in front of it next weekend in Norman, OK.