The players warmed up and prepared mentally for the season finale. The line up:
1. Caleb, 2. Josh, 3. Brandon, 4. Chris, 5. Conner, 6. Will, 7. Daniel, 8. Jake, 9. Andrew, 10. Edmund, 11. Eric, 12. Nicky, 13. Zac, 14. Franklin, 15. Brian
16. Ryan
When the referee blew the whistle to begin the game, both sides came out swinging. There were hits and then there was bigger hits. Some by UT Dallas and some by St. Edward's (SEU), but there was a lot of rugby to be played. UT Dallas managed to gain possession a few times during the first half, and a few times threatened to score a couple of Trys, but the St. Edward's defense tightened up and was able to come away with the ball to end our threat.
SEU attacked the UT Dallas defense, we bent and sometimes we bent farther than we thought we could, but we didn't break. SEU didn't find goal until well after 20 minutes into the first half and then again nearly 30 minutes into the half. That would be all the scoring in the first half, with SEU leading 12 to UT Dallas 0.
The second half would be a tale of 2 halves, while we fought harder in the first half, we fought hard in the second half, but it would be the constant onslaught of pressure being put on us from SEU and us missing a number of players to come in and help out. SEU ran in 6 Trys and SEU converted 4 of those for a combined SEU score of 50 to UT Dallas' 0.
All during this 3nd half, UT Dallas Rugby Club players could have easily given up, but they didn't, they fought, they never gave up, they came to play 80 minutes of rugby. And because of this, they were rewarded, Jake intercepted a pass from SEU backs and rumble 22 meters to score UTD's first and only Try of the game, Andrew converted it and then the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Final score SEU 50, UT Dallas 7
The game was a good one and not taking anything away from St. Edward's, but it is hard to swallow if you're UTD because I think we have just as much talent as the top clubs in the Lonestar Conference. I can't pinpoint the reason why and how we're where we are, but we will be preparing for the playoffs, which will be played next weekend (2/27-28/16) on the campus of UTSA.
The schedule has been made and there will be 8 games played on Saturday between 10:30am until 5:00pm and then the final few games to be played on Sunday along with the championship.
More info and a schedule will be posted later this week as the seeds are finally posted and schedule set. I will also post directions and info related to these playoffs later this week.