We’re no longer considered Division III in the eyes of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO); we’re now competing for the Small College Rugby Championship. We have now become our own conference, the LoneStar Rugby Conference (LSC).
What this means is that we now basically have control of our own future. The Texas Rugby Union is still our governing body, but with our own commissioner, treasurer and director of discipline we’re on our way. While there are 10 clubs participating in the LSC, 4 of these clubs are not eligible to compete for a Small College Championship. Two of the clubs are actually Division II and two others are second sides of Division I clubs competing in the Southwest Rugby Conference.
1. Angelo State University and the University of Dallas are both Division II Collegiate Clubs and they’ll be competing in our conference, but they’ll have a shot at the USA Rugby Collegiate Division II National Playoffs. Both clubs are welcome competition for everyone in the LSC.
2. Texas State and St. Edward’s University will be entering their second sides in the LSC. This is being done and welcomed, so that their younger less experienced players can get a match played and they are helping the LSC out by filling two spots vacated by other clubs.
3. This leaves the 6 remaining clubs competing for the Small College Rugby Championship and they are: North Conference - UT Dallas, Midwestern St., SMU, and Letourneau University. South Conference – UT San Antonio and
Lamar University.
4. See the schedule for the complete listing of clubs in each conference.
I think I said enough on that, but what I think you’re all waiting to hear about is words about your University of Texas at Dallas Rugby Football Club.
This past Saturday, I met with my new Bear (Assistant Head Coach - Forwards) [his bio is has been posted in the coaches section and his picture will be added shortly], Nathan (Club President) and Dominic (Club Vice President) and Nathan’s girl friend Kelsey to discuss plans for practice, times for practice and upcoming matches. It was a
great meeting and I can say that all of us are excited to get going again.
This year we don’t have the luxury of having 2 Round Robin tournaments and 2 Friendly matches to prepare for our season. But that’s ok, we'll still be competing in one Round Robin Tournament and yes it’s the same one we kicked off our season with in Austin. We should get 3 maybe 4 matches in one complete day and this will be great for all the new players that I hear are coming out to play with us.
Something new this year – we’ll be playing our first Green v Orange Rugby Scrimmage on Saturday evening, Sept. 15th. Kickoff is scheduled for about 7:00pm and since this is Family Weekend, this will be a great opportunity for the lads to show off their new skills in front of friends and family in a controlled situation. Also after the match, we’ll have a small social set up for the players and their families to meet the other team-mates and coaches and generally socialize getting to know each other in preparation for our upcoming season.
We have 3 weeks to get the lads rugby ready for the Green v Orange scrimmage and 4 weeks until our first tournament all matches and tournaments are listed on our schedule in this web site, so time is short and practice is important. If I know one thing about the lads, they take practice as serious as well as their class work and projects.
Now that our season is up and running, I’ll be posting more and more. I have a few new ideas that I’m going to fine tune and once we really get rolling. I’ll post more information on what we’re doing and as always if anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to contact me and I’ll get you the answers or address your comments.
Let’s have some fun supporting your UT Dallas Rugby Club and I'd like to thank you all now for your support.