In the past this has been probably the most physical match the current players ever play, The alumni also bring with them a very talented and skilled side with a number of them still playing rugby with either the Dallas Reds, Austin Black or some of the other club.
The match kicked off at 7:00 with current player/alumni player Daniel Eljuri who is a certified referee, managing the match with his whistle. In a rare game, I thought he did a very good job refereeing, his knowledge of the laws and control of the forward pack was very good. In fact for the first time yellow cards were issued in this alumni game. One card going out to Alumni Prop Ryan Lawton and the other going to current player Lock Al El Sharkawy.
The match was very entertaining, but it was the alumni who had a few more weapons at their disposal than the current team. It also was a slight disadvantage, but this is part of the game, the alumni has the experience on their side. The alumni racked up 6 Trys in the first half, with the current players scoring 2 of their own.
The second half was a good one, with the current players scoring 3 more Trys to the Alumni scoring 2 Trys to narrow the score. The game was a very good one with lots of substitutions being made on a regular basis. Everyone was able to get a lot of playing time.
The final score UT Dallas Alumni 44, current UT Dallas Rugby Club 25.
Next weekend, the current UT Dallas Rugby is back in action with league play and our opponent will be the evil school that is south of us off of 75 Central Expressway, that club - SMU. We'll be traveling down Central Expressway to play SMU in a 2:00pm kick off. I believe they have a new pro turf field that they play on and will have to update you on the address later this week.
SMU and UT Dallas have had some very interesting games in the past and this one should be no different. UT Dallas will be taking their 3 - 0 record into the game with SMU holding a 1 win and 1 loss record. They lost their match when they traveled to Abilene, to play Abilene Christian University. But they won their match at home when they hosted and played Rice University. SMU has always been a whole lot stronger when playing a home game, so it will be up to the UT Dallas players to do everything possible to take away any of the advantages SMU has by having this game. It will be a tall order, but this game could go either way and I expect it to be a very good game.
As I get more info on the game, I'll post it for everyone. See you next weekend, Go Comets.