One of the last things I told the lads after the SFA game, was to ask Santa Claus for sweats, warm ups anything they could use to keep warm on the cold practice nights. I hope they listened to me and Santa was good to them. He was for me, I got a couple of warm weather things, yippee.
We ended the fall half of the season going 6 wins, 0 losses and was very successful in the games we played. In fact, according to Competition Management System (CMS) here are our stats.
Games played 6, Games Won 6, Games Lost 0, Points For 424, Points Against 32, Point Differential 392, Points 30
Top 4 Tier 2 Rankings and record
UT Dallas 1st place (6-0)
Letourneau 2nd place (4-1)
Abilene Christian 3rd place (3-1)
Southern Methodist 4th place (2-3)
It has been a fun fall half of the season, and now the reality of the new season. It's been a great 5 years having Daniel Eljuri on the field, we (Bear and myself) met him when he first joined the club. Didn't know a rugby ball from a football, but in those years, he worked hard and transformed his body and mind into a devastating intelligent rugby player, who has made USA National Honors by being an Academic All American and being selected to the first ever Lonestar Conference All Star Team in their tour to the Caymen Islands.
Another player, Andrew Whiteis, who we met 4 1/2 years ago, when he walked onto the rugby practice field. From the first tackle practice and ball handling drills. We knew we had someone special and Andrew proved to be a fierce competitor, good leader and team-mate.
Daniel and Andrew both are such good leaders, they were selected captains and with their help they ran the club during games, when it's out of the coaches hands or voice. We (all the coaches) wish Daniel and Andrew all the best in their future, be it on the rugby pitch or in the office. They are truly fine gentlemen and now they'll get to play with the undefeated Alumni side next fall, when we play the annual Alumni game.
The Spring Season
This spring, we have two matches that are on the books:
January 20th we travel to Denton to play UNT and UT in a 3 club round robin (details will be coming as we get closer to that weekend)
January 27th we host Abilene Christian Univ. in the last home league match of the 2017-18 Lonestar season. (more details will be coming as we get closer to that match)
February 24th and 25th - the Lonestar Conference Playoffs begin, the venue will be decided later this month and details will be posted as we get closer.
My vision is to fill the open weekends between the Abilene Christian match and the playoffs. I've sent 2 emails off to clubs we don't play or not in our conference, but haven't heard anything from them yet. If they are unable, then I'll continue to look for someone to play.
See you on Game Day.