A single change to the line up was needed to be made and both Bear and myself were comfortable with our selections. The referee had gone through his pregame instructions and at 7:00pm the match began.
The line up.
1. Jonathan, 2. Conner, 3. Maika, 4. John, 5. Weston, 6. AJ, 7. Elliot, 8. Ben, 9. Michael, 10. Andrew, 11. Marc, 12. Alex, 13. Nicky, 14. Alejandro, 15. Brian
Replacements - Luke in for Andrew, Jake in for Conner
The first 20 minutes of the match was played in our half, UD already punched in the first Try 4 minutes in the match and they were looking to add more, but it was the UTD defense that did not allow any more points in the half or the game. In the attack, things took a while to get going, much of this because of freshman (1st year player) Michael Shamoun was making his debut at scrumhalf along side of freshmen Andrew Whiteis who has experience playing was working with Michael.
UT Dallas was able to get on the board finally with a Try from #8 Ben Bales, then on the next restart AJ took the ball and ran the length of the field to score the 2nd Try of the game, this time Alex was able to convert and UT Dallas took the lead 12 to UD's 5 at the end of the half.
But the half wasn't just about scoring, UT Dallas lost Flyhalf Andrew Whiteis to a broken collar bone and had to be replaced by Luke. I have spoken with him since and he is fine and should be available and back in action next spring.
The second half became the Anthony Paradowski show, AJ led the forwards and backs in defending and in attack. In this half alone AJ put up 3 more Trys on some fierce running and looking for any opportunities to help his team maintain their lead. Alex was also able to convert one of those Trys and add a Penalty kick. The final score UT Dallas 32, UD 5.
On the Women's side, they traveled to Beaumont to play Lamar University, while I'm waiting for a report on the UT Dallas Women's Rugby Club. I can tell you that they won their match 63 to 7. From the texts I got on in real time, the game was rocking in the mud. Trys were scored by Marie (4), Alyssa (3), Vic (2), Stephanie (2). Alyssa converted 1 Try and Marie converted 3 Trys. Once I get something from them, I promise to report that on this web site.
Next weekend will show case both our Men and Women on separate evenings of Rugby at home. This coming Friday, the Men take on SMU, kick off is scheduled for 7:00pm. The Women will take on Texas St on Saturday, kick off is scheduled for 6:30. More on these matche