Texas was
up for this one. Three days after beating the Aggies
in College Station, the Longhorns got word from
the TRU that Texas Tech had been forced to forfeit their tie with Texas due to an
incidental rules violation. This turn of events, coupled with an Aggie
defeat of Sam Houston, meant that the Texas
- LSU game would be the de facto conference championship game. A win
would send Texas to Dallas to participate in the first rounds of
the national tournament. The 'Horns prepared well for the visiting
Goliath, but in the end, luck was not on their side.
The game started with Texas
receiving the opening kick with the wind at their backs, but the 'Horns quickly
found themselves deep in their own territory and in trouble. Despite
overpowering LSU in the scrums as they had most of their opponents throughout
the year, the Longhorns were plagued by the Tigers' scrumhalf, who did an
excellent job of interfering with his Longhorn counterpart, stealing the ball
as Texas tried to pass out to their backs several times, and forcing errant
passes on others. While Texas
defended one of LSU's early drives to the goal-line,
the LSU halfback stole another ball off of a scrum, and a few phases later, an
LSU back slipped a tackle and was in for a try.
Texas fought back quickly, though, and
given the ball in LSU's end, the Longhorns relaxed a
bit and put the pressure on the Tigers, eventually taking advantage of a quick
tap on an LSU penalty to put the tying try over, which was then converted to
give Texas a
7-5 advantage.
It was at this point in most matches where Texas' by now trademark team defense would
force a stalemate for most of the rest of the half, but it was not to be.
Texas
got away from the attacking defense that won them the game against the Aggies, and the LSU backs were too good to be left to work unpressured. The Tigers split defenders and the
'Horns spent a lot of time running backwards before the half, but managed to
limit the damage to two more tries to go into the half down 17-7.
After the break, Texas
came out ready to get back to the fundamentals. Some of Texas' players, including Man of the Match
Mike McAllaster, flew at LSU early, hitting hard and
setting the tone for the rest of the match. With the increased intensity,
Texas quickly
found itself in attacking position, eventually pounding out a try with their
forwards as has been the norm. The 'Horns again converted to tighten the
game to 17-14 LSU, and the championship was officially on the line.
LSU picked up some of the energy from the Longhorn side, though, and like a
championship caliber team should do, they got stronger with Texas' punch in the mouth coming out of the
half. The quickness of the Tiger back line was too much for the 'Horns to
hold back forever, though, and eventually a sweaty Texas hand slipped off of an
LSU back's shorts, releasing him into the end-goal for the try that would put
the match away with the Tigers up two scores, 22-14.
Texas mounted a serious comeback attempt, including one excellent run by the
back line that covered around sixty meters, but the 'Horns felt the clock
ticking away and allowed several turnovers when they tried to force one more
pass or one more step closer to the goal-line. LSU took advantage of the
sense of worry that descended upon the Texas
side to put over one more insurance try, and the game wilted away with the
final 29-17 LSU.
Second Side Match: Texas
7 - LSU 8
The second side contest was a slow grinder of a match that was close all the
way, with neither side finding the end-goal until the second half.
Despite playing with several converted backs in their scrum, Texas had the upper hand
for much of the game up front as the 'Horns tenacity and teamwork outmatched LSU's advantages in size and experience.
The Tigers scored first on a left-side overload, but the difficult kick went
unconverted, and Texas
felt no pressure, down just 5-0. The 'Horns kept their cool and stuck to
their game, pinning LSU in their own end with a strong kicking game and tough
running from the Man of the Match, Max Tuley, and
when given a chance with possession, froze the LSU defense with a maul before
slipping a pass to their rumbling prop, Garret Pesnell,
who powered his way through two Tigers over the goal line for his first career
try. The 'Horns converted with a Badger Denehy
drop-goal and assumed the lead 7-5.
LSU would stall their next drive around the Texas 22, and though the 'Horns
showed no signs of allowing a try, they did commit a penalty directly in front
of the posts, which LSU kicked for points, finalizing the scoring for the day
at 8-7. Texas
tried desperately to move into position for a drop goal in the last five
minutes, but were repeatedly denied by mistakes and
bad luck as they knocked at the door but came up just short.
Season Recap: Texas:
3-2-0 3rd TRU Standings
There are no trophies won for effort, but there are countless movies, books,
and Cinderella stories told of underdogs who didn't know that they were
supposed to lose, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to write you another one
about this Texas team that traded punches with some of the best teams in the
country and brought respect back to a program to which no one gave a second
thought.
The Longhorns were coming off a season that saw them go 2-3-0 with wins over
Texas Tech and SamHoustonState,
losing badly to the Aggies and the Tigers, as well as
dropping an upset to a Rice squad that they had beaten soundly in a friendly
game in the fall. The 'Horns started the season with a solid win over Rice, and when news came in
about LSU taking down the favored Aggies,
expectations for the team began to rise. The optimism wasn't even
derailed when Tech forced a tie on an
incredible conversion kick. Texas
new that they had something good going this year, and while not getting a win
against Tech would make it a tougher mountain to climb, they knew they still
had a shot.
Then came the heartbreaking last-second loss to
Sam, and Texas
thought they had just seen their shot at a playoff appearance slip through
their fingers. There was no time for disappointment, though, as the big
game against the Aggies had been rescheduled to the
following day. While some teams would have quit on the season and mailed
in an effort in this game, the Longhorns knew what the game meant to the alumni
and to the respect of the club, and performed accordingly. In easily the
marquee win of the season, the Longhorns stunned an Aggie team that was cruising
towards the end of their season with a 20-19 victory that will set the standard
for the Texas Rugby teams for years to come. Check out second-side's
captain, Badger Denehy's excellent video summary of
the match below:
After getting the news of Tech's forfeit, Texas found itself an unlikely title
contender in a winner-take-all match against the Bayou Bengals.
While they came up short of making a miracle run to the playoffs, simply
getting a shot is a solid step along the way. What this team gave the
Texas Rugby Club is a sense of pride, and an idea of what it feels like to be
in contention. Next year the club will start the season with some real
expectations, and they can thank this year's squad for
that.
The story of Texas'
success on the season follows the same pattern as a match report of one of
their games: Against bigger, faster opponents, the Longhorns played as a
team, taking advantage of sloppy play from bigger teams and giving very little
back to keep games close. While the season ended on a down note, Texas knows that they
came just a few lucky bounces short of who knows what, and that they've earned
the respect of their rivals in the conference. These Longhorns may be
small, but they sure are slow, and even then, if you're looking to win a game
from Texas,
you're going to have to earn every yard of it.