The first half was a spirited 40 minute exercise in force meeting force; both packs of forwards were out to prove their dominance over the other. This match was clearly over shadowed by the lack of quality refereeing, but in division III, this is something that we have to deal with on a regular basis. The referee of this match did his best in attempting to manage it and both coaches appreciate his being in the middle, because without guys like this wanting to referee there wouldn’t be a match. Coaches and or players would have to do it.
Back to the match, both teams played extremely well in this first half and in the first 30 minutes of this half, we were actually ahead in points 12 to 10 over UNT. But after a small break in which the referee wanted to confer with both
coaches about extracurricular activities, we spoke with the ref and then with our guys the match continued. UNT
managed to put 19 points on us in the final 10 minutes of the half. When the whistle blew to end the first 40 minutes, UNT had jumped to a 29 to 12 lead on us.
Line up for the first 40 minutes
Props – Alex and Nate, Hooker – AJ, Locks – John and Michael, Flankers – Ahmad and Mohammad, # 8 – Steven (Sunshine), Scrumhalf –Austin, Flyhalf – Brian, Centers – Cameron and Chad, Wings – Marc and Justin, Fullback –
Marcus
Trys scored – AJ and Cameron, Marcus with one conversion
The second half was divided into two 20 minute periods, this 20 was so that everyone else could get match time.
Both clubs played very well with all the newer players that were on the field, and getting valuable match experience, something that both sides will need to go far in our perspective leagues and playoffs. In this period UNT put 12 more points against UT Dallas’ 5.
The lineup for this period:
Props – Erbold and Ryan, Hooker – Scott, Locks – John and Michael, Flankers – Stephen (Moonshine) and Ahmad, #8 – Sunshine, Scrumhalf – Austin, Flyhalf – Brian, Centers – Cameron and Trevor, Wings, Nabe and Graham, Fullback – Steven Shaffer
Replacements – Stephen Boeding for Austin (Cramps), Ross in for Cameron (Dizziness)
Try scored by Sunshine, Brian missed the conversion.
The final 20 minute period was played exactly the previous period. UNT put 5 points on the board and blanking UT Dallas in this period.
The lineup for the final 20:
Props – Alex and Ryan, Hooker – Scott, Locks – John and Michael, Flankers – AJ and Richard, #8 – Moonshine, Scrumhalf – Stephen B., Flyhalf – Brian, Centers – Ross and Trevor, Wings – Arturo and Alejandro, Fullback –
Steven S.
As far as the match went, special notes to out to Brian (FH), Wings – Justin, Graham, Nabe and Arturo, Trevor (C), Michael (L) all played extremely well and I believe they learned quite a bit from playing this talented UNT side and look to see exciting things from them in the near future.
On an note not related to the UT Dallas Rugby Club, but we have gotten some interest from the girls at UT Dallas to start a Women’s Rugby Program here. I’ve been working with these young ladies who have been coming out to practice the same time as the lads and as we proceed with more girls we’ll adventure on to creating this Women’s side.
Next weekend (10/20) we get back to league play and our next opponent will be Letourneau University (LTU). They are a brand new club, like we were last year and there isn’t much of any kind of scouting reports on them.
The match will kick off at 7:00pm and currently only one match will be played, but I’m in the process of trying to find a team to come in and maybe play the rest of our guys for 30 minutes, just to get them some more game experience. As we get closer to the match and I have more info, I’ll post it to this web site.
Thanks to everyone that came out to support us yesterday and every match.