Tony Wagner will be there with the traditional Alumni Red jerseys. See you all there.
Just a reminder to all UT Dallas Alumni. The Alumni game is still on, it set for Sept 8th with Kick off at 7:00pm.
Tony Wagner will be there with the traditional Alumni Red jerseys. See you all there.
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About a week ago or so, I met with the officers of the UT Dallas Rugby Club and they informed me that they and the club wanted to go into a new direction and bring in a new head coach.
Now, they aren't kicking me to the curb, they offered me the position of Director of Rugby. This position would continue to set up match schedules, match reports and make an attempt to work with Chris Gormley. I asked if I would have input in the selection of the new coach, and input in practice or matches? Their answer, I could make recommendations, to the new coach and officers. I thought this over, and with the years that I've invested into the club, to have to ask to do something or to be part of the club? No, I couldn't and can't do that, so I've decided that I am going to step away from UT Dallas Rugby. I remember our first practice, 8 years ago, when I looked at 45 potential players and asked how many of them had ever played rugby and 6 players raised their hands. Going into our first tournament, and scoring a Try against Rice University in our first match. I knew things were going to be fun. The guys didn't care about winning or losing, they just wanted to play. Going into our first league match, we were losing by 8 points at half time. I told the guys that if they would make tackles, we could win the game. By the end of the game, we won by 35 points. This pattern continued throughout that first season. Going into our first playoff match, we got rained out on Saturday and ended up playing that match at 8:00am Sunday morning, another game, another victory. This would bring us to the championship match against UTSA. This was probably the most physical match we had played all season, we were again down to UTSA going into the final minutes of the game when, inside center Dominic Prestia broke through and ran 30 meters to score the game winning Try. A Cinderella club from no where, came out played 7 friendly and 7 league matches and win their first state championship, no way, but yes they did it. There were other moments with this game that I'll always remember, like having 300 plus UT Dallas fans line the pitch to watch us play that championship match. Watching our club President and Captain Nathan Sohadaseni accept the trophy for winning that first state championship. Remember, up until then most if not all of the players had never won anything. Then there was us going undefeated for 3 consecutive seasons only to lose in our 3rd appearance in a state championship. So 2 state championships and runner up in a third, being nationally ranked as high as 8th in the nation out of 218 clubs, Not to bad for a bunch of guys who had never seen a rugby ball or even played sports. I then added a friend John "Bear" Hinson (Thanks) to help me coach the forwards, he joined us that second season and has been with us through thick and thin. With so many players coming in and graduating, I can't name them all or the impact they made on me or the club, so if I miss some of you I apologize. I already mentioned Nathan and Dominic, then there were guys like Sunshine, AJ, Shawn, Zach and Urbold, they all fancied playing one position on the pitch, then I asked them to play another and they did, for the best of the club. Wings like Alejandro and Hudac, Locks like the silent assassins John and Weston. Then there are players like Cameron, Vince and Andrew, Victor, Ben, Daniel, Caleb. These guys came to play, some knew what they could do, others realized it and shined like no other on the pitch. I added coaches like Pete and Daniel to help out and those guys added a whole lot to the lads and I'm grateful to them. Thank you to the parents who helped not only the UT Dallas Rugby Club, but me. Steven Shaffers dad, who designed the goal post pads and our score board, John and Heather Bradshaw for their years of support, Scott and Rebecca Yale for making Suzi and me a part of their family. Good luck to UT Dallas Rugby Club in the all of you future matches. Since our playoff run at the Lonestar Conference Championships, in my last blog. I stated that we had lost to the University of Dallas (UD) and played for 5th place against Texas St on Sunday morning.
That match was similar to our match against UD except this ended with a victory to UT Dallas. It was a close match played by 2 balanced clubs. Scoring was from both sides, and it was the Comets that scored the final Try to seal the win and 5th place. It was also determined that due to our successful season in Tier 2, that we would be promoted to Tier 1 for the 2018-2019 season. This should not be too much of a problem to us, considering we played both UD and Texas St. quite well. Clubs in Tier 1 would be Texas St., UD, UT San Antonio, Angelo St., Sam Houston and Tarleton St. We will continue to kick off our season in Austin with our yearly tournament and have a few friendlies with UNT and our yearly Alumni match. Our schedule will be posted soon. As far as our summer 7's goes, we have done quite well with players staying around to compete in a number of 7's tournaments in and around Texas. With Pete Santos leading and coaching the lads, UT Dallas competed and finished on the podium in all of the tournaments they played. Very well played and this will help out come 15's season. Great job and great going guys. Our UT Dallas Women's club will be taking a half year or maybe full year off to recruit players and get our numbers up. The ladies will still be playing rugby, just for another club filled with women. On the Women's front. As some of you may or may not know, but for the past 3 years I have been the Commissioner of the Women's Conference. Well that is no more, since I have stepped down from that position. I'm looking forward to our new season and the things that brings us, so keep tuning in for any and all updates as our season progresses. It was an unusually warm Saturday morning in San Angelo, when your UT Dallas Rugby Club took the pitch to take on cross town rivals the University of Dallas.
The match was evenly played in the first half with UT Dallas striking first with a Try to take a 5 point lead in the game, but UD fought back to tie it. It went like this the entire half, any time UT Dallas would score, UD would find an answer. The first half ended with the score even at 17. The second half was more of the same but this time no one was able to get into the goal area, until late in the match UD capitalized on our misque and punched one in goal to win the match 22 to UTD's 17. So with this loss, we had to take on the loser of the Angelo St. vs Texas St. match. In this match Texas St. was clearly outplayed by Angelo St. losing 57 to 0. With a brief break between our loss to UD and the upcoming Texas St. match. We set our lineup and took the pitch to play them. This was a good match, UT Dallas came out swinging and put up scores, but then we had some mental breakdowns and let Texas St. back into the match. With less than 10 minutes to play the referee had both sides even at 33 each (the actual score at the time was UTD 33, Texas St. 31), but Lewis playing Flyhalf broke through the Texas St. defense to score the eventual game winner. UT Dallas 40, Texas St. 33. Sunday morning, UT Dallas is poised to play Sam Houston St. for 5th and 6th place. The match is scheduled to kick off at 9:30am. While Sam Houston St. is a Tier 1 side, they aren't the same side that ran through us in the playoffs last year, the same way we aren't the same team that made it into the playoffs. We are a team on a mission to play rugby and have fun winning games for our team-mates and our school. So with that, the next report you read will be our final match of the 2017-2018 season. Playoff Pix It's official, the final Lonestar Conference seed and playoff schedule are out. Saturday games will be 50 minute games (two - 25 minute halves).
All games will be played at Angelo State University, address to the pitch will be listed in Match Day Directions. The final standings and seed 1. Angelo State University (ASU) 2. University of North Texas (UNT) 3. UT San Antonio (UTSA) 4. University of Dallas (UD) 5. UT Dallas (UTD) 6. Letourneau University (LTU) 7. Sam Houston St. University (SHSU) 8. Texas St. (Tx St.) Without boring you with all the games, I'm just going to list the matches that you UT Dallas Comet will be playing. 12 Noon - UT Dallas vs University of Dallas When we beat UD, we will play the winner of the ASU v Tx St. match at 4:00pm If we lose to UD, we will play the loser of the ASU v Tx St. match at 3:00pm After this it becomes crazy. All games on Sunday will be 80 minute matches (two - 40 minute halves) If we lose both games Saturday, we're done If we lose the first game, but win the 2nd game, we would play at 9:30am Sunday 5th/6th place. If we win the first game, lose the second game, we play at 11:00am Consolation If we win the first game, win the second game, we play at 12:30pm Championship Scott Yale has finished the recruiting video. Use the link below to view it. Good stuff. Thanks Scott. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8JPFtXBAo Saturday, your UT Dallas Rugby Club played their last friendly match of the 2017-2018 rugby season. It was a good match to watch and it did look like a great game to play in.
The Quin's were short a few players, so we lent them some of our guys so that everyone could have a run. The match was well played and the final outcome was in UT Dallas' favor. Unlike the first meeting, but U won't discuss that because this is a new year. The bottom line is that we played quite well and with the next few weeks off leading to the playoffs, it's going to take all kinds of things to keep the lads in line and focused. The playoffs will be held at Angelo State University in San Angelo (February 24th and 25th). Right now I have no idea what the playoff schedule will be like or who we'll be playing. I have an idea, but I'll keep that to myself, so as to not create havoc by my misjudgment. One thing I know for sure, we will be playing 2 games on Saturday Feb. 24th and if we play well on that day, we'll have an opportunity to play on Sunday, Feb. 25th. As soon as I get info on the Playoffs/Championship, I will post it for everyone. The match is on, set for kick off at 2:00pm at Glenco Park, see match day directions for the address.
Saturday, January 27th your UT Dallas Rugby Club took the pitch against a new university to the Lonestar Conference, Abilene Christian University (ACU).
The day started out just like every other day, except while I was in route to UT Dallas, I get a text that the fields are locked. After a couple of phone calls and texts, the fields were open and the guys quickly put our pitch together and began their warm ups. Kick off was on time and the weather was cooperating (sunny and a mild 64 degrees, but it did get cooler when the sun went down). Captains met at mid field for the coin toss and boom, the match began. Line up: 1. Yahve, 2. Jarvis, 3. Joey, 4. Aly, 5. Calvin, 6. Andrew, 7. Steven L. 8. Caleb, 9. Talhah, 10. Lewis, 11. Josue, 12. Edmund, 13. Tristen, 14. Octavio, 15. Eric Reserves 16. Andrew D., 17. Ethan, 18. Travis, 19. Andrew M., 20. Michael, 21. Jackson, 22. Grafton, 23. Manny ACU came out of the blocks on fire, they controlled the ball, pace and action for the first 20 minutes of the match, but UTD had a line out awarded to them. We threw and won that line out, passed to Flanker Andrew Palet, who tore through the ACU defense to what was going to be the first score of the match, but NOOOOO. Andrew lost control of the ball on his way to grounding the Try, referees words "knock on in goal". From the ensuing scrum, the other flanker Steven Larsen got the ball and slotted the first Try of the game. It was a good match to watch, both sides was playing well and to use the words of our trainer Robin, these guys are really knocking heads. She had to look at a number of players from both sides and hand out ice for their wounds and aches. The first half ended with UTD up 32 to ACU's 0, a couple of substitutions were made and the second half began. ACU while they are into their first full season of competition, they played like a seasoned club that had been in the conference for a number of years. Their coach Nikki had them working together, while my coaches Bear motivated the forwards and Pete and Daniel fine tuned the backs for another exciting half. The second half was pretty much like the first half with UTD scoring multiple Trys and we managed to keep ACU out of goal. The final score UT Dallas 55, ACU 0 Scoring on the day was Jackson (3 Trys), Steven L. (2 Trys), Lewis, Eric, Aly, Edmund all scoring 1 Try each. Lewis Hopkins did convert 5 of 9 Trys on the day. Next/this Saturday Feb. 3rd, we will play a friendly match against the Dallas Harlequinns U23, while this is a friendly match, we need to use it like a league match. This is our only tune up match before the playoffs. When we last played the Quinns U23 they put up sick numbers against us, 63 points to be exact. With former UTD players now playing with the Quinns, it lends itself into a brand new non league rivalry almost like the Alumni game. The match is scheduled to be played in Dallas, and as soon as I know the location and time of the match, I'll post that info. Just a heads up, the Lonestar Playoffs/Championship will be held at Angelo State University the weekend of Februrary 24th and 25th in San Angelo, Texas. When we know more info on what hotel and such we will pass that info on as well. This past Saturday, your UT Dallas Rugby Club took the pitch in a friendly match against UNT. This match was the first of the 2018 year and a way to shake off the dust from this past winter's break.
Originally, this was supposed to be a round robin type tournament with UT Austin, UNT and us all playing 2 matches, but UT Austin backed out last minute Friday afternoon. So with that being stated, we were still committed to playing 2 matches against the same school. Our match was moved up an hour earlier, and we had the personnel there ready to play. The line up for 1st match 1. Yahve, 2. Jarvis, 3. Joey 4. Calvin, 5. Ali, 6. Andrew P., 7. Steven L., 8. Caleb, 9. Talhah, 10. Lewis, 11. Josue, 12. Edmund, 13. Tristen, 14. Jackson, 15. Eric Reserves: Ethan replaced Jarvis in the second half It was a difficult match for us because of the height and weight discrepancy between our 2 clubs. But our guys fought the entire 80 minutes of the match. The final score unofficially was UNT 64 to UT Dallas' 3 - thanks to a penalty kick made by Lewis in the second half, to keep us from being shut out. The second match also was against UNT and the line up for that match was: 1. Brandon, 2. Angel, 3. Grafton, 4. Alex Wilson, 5. Alex Willis, 6. Andrew M. 7. Syed, 8. Travis, 9. Talhah, 10. Andrew D., 11. Eric, 12. Ola, 13. Tristen, 14. Josue, 15. Jackson In this match, the guys played quite well against the larger, faster UNT second side. While this was a good match for some of the guys to finally get some game time. It was a good match to watch. What I mean by this statement is that it was good to see some of these guys challenge themselves against and opponent that is equally skilled. I may not have liked both results, because we lost that second side match as well. But we weren't kept scoreless in this match either. Daniel came in a part time reserve and managed to score a try for our B side. This coming Saturday (1/27/18) we play our last league match of the 2017-2018 Lonestar season and we're hosting Abilene Christian University (ACU). Currently ACU has a 3 win, 1 loss record and should be a decent test for the guys before going into the playoffs at the end of the month. More on the playoffs later, but right now our guys have to find a way to rebound from this past weekends match. In the past, a loss like this provided us the wake up call for the guys to regain their peak performance. Abllene Christian is in their second season, but that doesn't mean anything when clubs step up on the field. Kick off for this match is set for 4:30pm next Saturday and will be played at UT Dallas. See you there. |
Practice Times
Men Tuesdays 6 - 8 pm Thursdays 6 - 8 pm Women Mondays 8 - 10 pm Wednesdays 8 - 10 pm Archives
August 2018
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