110505 -- rugby

Warmed up and played touch at Burr field before UT scrimmaged ARC.

We played most of our starters against a good Blacks side with a lot of their D1 players.

We started Mahoney in the center with Noah at wing and Kellen at prop. In the second half I replaced Creighton with Kellen, Stephen with Ryan, and Tod with Justin.

Defensively we were rock solid. We dominated set piece play and tackled well. Offensively we lacked chemistry and had many knocks. The Blacks played hard charging defense. We were inside the 22 for most of the first half (like A&M) and they payed 7s across.

We scored in the second half after we stole a lineout in our end and kicked through before they could drop a sweeper.

Although I was happy with the outcome I was disappointed with our play. The players looked run down, took too much contact, and had too many handling errors. Its hard to pay a 7s style against a team playing 15s and we did play the best mens cub in Texas.

Maybe that will be our recipe for success... blast the ball deep into the opponents half and keep them there with hard tackling and set piece play. I think it will also help to define roles more clearly. Stephen should be encouraged to either 1 step xfer or look to break the line. Mark, Scott, and Kye need to maintain width and support half breaks. Justin needs to immediately look for support after a half break. Eric and Tod should be first touch players off of breakdowns. Noah, Kellen, and Alexis can run off the creators.

Even though we were down on ourselves after the victory there are still positive take aways. First, our set piece play improved and our defense was solid. We did not back down from the top mens side in Texas. And the fact that we were disappointed with the outcome shows we won't settle for less than our potential. I also felt better after talking to one of the Blacks players after the match. He said he couldn't believe how fit and physical we were.

Anyway, its one more step in the progression.
> Beat decent teams close
> Lose to good teams close
> Beat decent teams easily
> Beat good teams close