UNT is a member of the Southwest Rugby Conference which is a division 1 club and one of the reasons a match like this was scheduled is: 1. The coaching staffs of both schools know each other. 2. The UNT and UTD players have great games against one another. 3. This was a good test for UTD to play against a bigger side. 4. This match was good for both schools to allow players that haven't gotten very much playing time, much needed and valuable playing time.
The starting line up for this match:
1. Jonathan, 2. Alex, 3. Ryan, 4. John, 5. Weston, 6. Elliott, 7. AJ, 8. Jake. 9. Cam, 10. Brian, 11. Graham, 12. Steven, 13. Nicky, 14. Justin T, 15. Dro
Also playing was Zach, Justin M., Marc, Nick P., Mohammad, Christian, Daniel, Matt, Eric, Joe, Otto. Andrew was in attendance, but did not play due to illness.
The match kicked off slightly ahead of schedule, and it was on. UTD went on the attack, only to be turned back. UNT then attacked and was turned around. This kind of rugby took place all through the first 40 minutes, both sides looking to show some dominance against the other. The match to the untrained eye looked like a slug fest between 2 teams that looked to hate each other.
But that wasn't the case, both sides have respect for each other, but during game time, there is no love lost. The first half ended with UTD leading 20 to UNT'S 7.
The second half was pretty much like the first half with one exception, more replacements were made, so that everyone got a run on this afternoon. It was then that UNT had made a move into possibly wanting to win this match. UTD put up one Try in the second half and UNT put 3 Trys and one conversion to bring the score UTD 25, UNT 24.
Then Cam put the team on his back and juked in and out to score the final Try of the afternoon, the final score UT Dallas 30, UNT 24.
Trys were scored by AJ (1), Cameron (2), Justin T (1), Alejandro (1), Brian had one penalty kick and one conversion.
Next Saturday, both the men and women will be in action in different parts of the state. First the ladies.
The ladies take on Sam Houston St. in Huntsville, kick off is scheduled for noon, directions to this match will be posted by Wednesday evening. I have a very positive feeling for this match that our ladies will go out and put together another good game like they did against TCU, but this time come out on top. Our girls have been working hard and I think they're ready for this last match of the season.
Currently they are second in the league standings and a win could propel them back into the number one spot. If you can go out and support them, you need to, it should be an exciting match to watch.
The men take on cross town rival SMU, kick off is scheduled for 2:00pm, directions will be posted Wednesday at the latest. Currently SMU is 2nd to UT Dallas in the north conference and they are hoping to hand UT Dallas their first loss of the season.
The past matches with SMU have been very good matches and while the scores may have been one sided, SMU has been improving slowly and steadily and I'm looking for another good match with them.
If anyone has any questions or comments, please send them to me and I'll do my best to get answers. See you next weekend.