This past Saturday, your UT Dallas Rugby Club kicked off the 2016 year and spring with a match against the University of Dallas (UD).
The line up:
1. Ryan, 2. Myles, 3. Brandon, 4. Chris, 5. Conner, 6. Precious, 7. Daniel, 8. Jake, 9. Alex, 10. Andrew W. 11. Zac, 12. Andrew D., 13. Edmund, 14. Octavio, 15. Brian
Reserves: Bryan H, Greyson, Franklin, Seth, Manny, Josh
The match kicked off at 2:00pm and it was UT Dallas on the attack, the green and orange hit UD and kept hitting them. Forcing UD deep into their own territory, and it was then that Daniel stole possession from UD and rumbled down the shortened field to cross the goal line, giving UTD their first Try of the game, the year and the first time we've ever scored first. But UD wasn't going to lay down for us, they fought back to score 2 Trys and convert one of them, to take a 12 to 5 lead. But UTD wasn't done either, off of a break and off load from Andrew D., Edmund side stepped and ran his way under the post to score the 2nd try of the half and Brian converted it to tie the game in the closing minutes of the first half. Now the score at the half UT Dallas 12, UD 12.
The second half began like the first half ended, UT Dallas on the move, when things went our way. Zac with ball in hand sprinted 30 yards into goal to score the first try of the second half and UT Dallas wasn't done scoring after that. Daniel scored another Try. Octavio scored probably the most spectacular Try of the day, catching a deep kick from UD, Octavio caught the ball made a couple of UD players miss him and ran about 60 yards to score our 5th Try of the game. Brian was able to convert that Try to give UT Dallas a 29 to 12 lead. UD fought hard and was able to put one more converted Try on the board, to finish the match. The final score UT Dallas 29, UD 19.
The lads played a complete game from beginning to end and we're hoping to continue that this coming weekend when cross town rival SMU comes to Richardson for our 2nd league match of 2016.
Both schools have struggled finishing games from the fall portion of the season, but like the years past, SMU always picks up their levels when it comes to a match between the two clubs.