Rarely see any rugby news on this forum, but everyone enjoys hearing of a good thrashing of t.u. Sounds like A&M has another very good team this year with a lot of depth (see below). Hopefully it will be another trip to the Sweet 16 this year, but with better results than in years past. Here is part of the match report sent to Old Maroon describing the domination of the A&M team in Austin this past weekend:

quote:

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Dear Old Maroon,
hopefully you all made sizeable bets with any UT folks you happen know. The boys came out fired up and played solid defense to create some
turnovers and for the most part over-powered the UT players at the breakdowns. Some quick hands and good ball movement saw lots of
line-breaks and for the most part the support was there to finish it off for tries. It was a balanced performance from backs and forwards with a good mix of tries created and scored by both. The first side has the week of this weekend while the 2nd's play UNT in Denton on Saturday.
The 2nd side was perhaps even more impressive in beating the UT 2nds, 65-0, however the highlight of the day was the 3rd side defeating the Austin Huns 3rds/Old Boys 27-5 in the early morning match. Featuring no less than 9 players getting their first taste of a rugby match it was an
impressive performance from guys that have only been practicing for 2 weeks. We are up over 60 players attending practice each week and there
is lots of internal pressure to perform and maintain places in the respective sides.

---

Summary:

1st XV: defeats t.u. 73-3
2nd XV: defeats t.u. 65-0
3rd XV: defeats Austin Huns 3rd XV 27-5 (with many inexperienced players)

Nice job. We had a really good team in the early 70's too. Y'all keep up the good work.

bqce, glad you remember our great teams in the early 70s. Our teams today have great coaching and we are now offering scholarship dollars to get quality players out of HS.

Texas has a rugby team?

Great to hear! Let's get those guys playing for the Quins when they graduate.

Referee report (Mark Woods):

This might have been billed as a big grudge match, but it was almost over before it began and never even looked like living up to its billing.


UT don`t need me to tell them where they went wrong, that was obvious to all.


A&M don`t need praise beyond the score. They played well but they should not allow the ease of this victory to disrupt their focus.

Rugger74 says that we are "...now offering scholarship dollars..." Wow. We are offering scholarships for rugby players? With that statement, and if it is actually happening, why can't we have a MEN'S SOCCER PROGRAM? If we can support a rugby team, then the athletic department can support a men's soccer team. And don't give me that BS that there aren't enough collegiate men's soccer teams in Texas to compete against. Don't buy it at all.

Great job by the rugby group, BTW.

I love my family...

The scholarship(s) are private, not through the athletic department. It is still a club sport like men's soccer, water polo, lacrosse, etc.

H20PoloAg:
I stand corrected; I wasn't aware of that situation. And I didn't mean to sound as if I was jumping on anybody. I have a bone to pick that we don't have a men's soccer program on campus, when I think we should and that point shouldn't take away from the initial post about rugby and their success.

Anyway, how are the scholarships funded for rugby, soccer, lacrosse, etc, since they are club sports?

I love my family...

[This message has been edited by monarch (edited 2/18/2007 7:02p).]

In order to bring Soccer or any men's club sport to Varsity level, the athletics dept. must fund two women's sports as well (Title IX Gender equity)

congrats to the Rugby teams

I don't claim to be any expert on this. As my name indicates, I played water polo at A&M and we did not offer scholarships. I have been playing rugby since I graduated, so I have some familiarity with the team, that is all. I just wanted to point out that the club sport teams are all very competitive on the national level without the direct support of the athletic department. I would love for any of them to have varsity status, but that looks very unlikely for any of the men's programs.

As for the scholarships, I assume that there was some endowment set up by some former player(s), either through the Association or some other private funding vehicle. This is purely a guess, though.

Ag K2'93:

I know, I know.

I am frustrated as hell about this. I know 5-6 kids (one of them my stepson)all HS and club level players that have to go out of state to play D1 soccer at the collegiate level. That is ridiculous. Some of the schools these kids are going to field as many if not more sports combined for men and women as we do.

Oh well. Let it drop. The issue won't be solved here.

I love my family...

[This message has been edited by monarch (edited 2/18/2007 9:52p).]

The scholarships are not full rides, and are provided through donations to the club.Any club sport can receive private money to assist students and can even establish endowments. Former ruggers are aiding the team with donations. If you really want a soccer club, recruit players from campus and play other schools as the other club sports.

Way to go, boys. Good luck with the rest of the season.