Once everyone got through the traffic of Canton, everything was smooth sailing to Longview. Once at LeTourneau everything began to fall into place. With our Captain - John out today because of a school project and Vice Captain - Vince still rehabbing his broken hand. AJ was selected as the Captain for the day, a responsibility he readily took on and shined. We also had a number of players not making the trip due to one reason or another, but this is why we practice. So that everyone can step up and produce on the field if another player is injured or can no longer play. And today was that test.
The Line up:
1. Jonathan, 2. Otto, 3. Maika, 4. Chris, 5. Eric, 6. AJ, 7. Mohammad, 8. Ben, 9. Cameron, 10. Andrew, 11. Marc, 12. Alex, 13. Nicky, 14. Graham, 15. Alejandro
Replacements: Nick P. in 2nd half for Nicky, Ryan in 2nd half for Maika, Joe, Elliott, Reece in the 55th minute for Graham, Mohammad, Andrew. Kirollos (Krow) and Brian in the 64th minute for Otto and Alejandro.
The match kicked off and was a good one to begin with. Both sides were testing each other, tackling, attacking and looking for good field position, but it was UT Dallas to get on the board first. AJ led his team with an explosive run up the middle of the field covering 80 yards, he and Alex (converting that Try) put UT Dallas 7, LTU 0. Basically we never looked back from that point.
While we were trying new things with a fresh back line, things were sometimes shaky, but they found ways of getting things done and found gaps in the LeTourneau back line, in their attack. But it was the forward pack that seemed to have the day. On the scrums, they flexed their muscle and was able to move their opponents backward a number of times. It was those same forwards that continued to win good ball for the backs, so they could continue to mount an attack. The first half came to a close with the score UT Dallas 26, LTU 6.
The second half began like the first half, both sides making small adjustments to their line up to find an edge in helping their side play better and keep the lead or regain their home field advantage. But on this day it wouldn't be LeTourneau that would be on top of the leader board, but they did manage to slot 2 Trys in this half, but that would be all for them. On the other side UT Dallas was able to ground 3 Trys of their own. When all was said and done, it was UT Dallas with another win, the final score UT Dallas 45. LTU 16.
Scoring Trys for UT Dallas - AJ ran in 3 on the day. Scoring 1 Try each was Ben, Andrew, Marc, Chris. Alex converted 5 of the 7 Trys.
Next weekend, both UT Dallas Rugby teams will be in action, the Women will be traveling to Beaumont to play Lamar University (scheduled Noon Kick Off) and the Men will be home, hosting UD (scheduled 7:00pm Kick Off) for the second game of the season.
Lamar has been fielding a consistant 10's side in the matches they've played, meaning they field 10 girls to play against 10 other girls. Instead of the 7 a side we've seen in the past few weeks. This will be a good challenge for our ladies and their first major road trip. We have a lot to prepare for, and I know they will be ready to play and have fun playing.
The men's match features a rematch with University of Dallas, what's funny is that a number of people this past week have been getting us UTD mixed up for UD. There is no comparison with them, we wear Green and Orange, share our field with soccer, and more important is there is Texas between the University and Dallas.
The last time we played each other it was a great match as usual with UT Dallas coming out on top and I expect the same next weekend.