Texas Bags Rice, 24-8

The Texas Rugby team handled its first test of the season with ease Saturday, turning what looked to be a close game at the half (10-8, Texas), into a decisive 24-8 victory. Texas was louder, meaner, more physical up front, and wore down Rice over the course of the day.

After Texas flanker Josh Burke recovered a blocked kick in the end-goal for a try, Texas took a very quick 5-0 lead. Rice took advantage of an easy penalty kick to cut the lead to 5-3, but Burke found their end goal again late in the half to move to 10-3. Taking advantage of UT miscues, Rice nearly tied the game at 10 after a breakaway try, but failed to convert the kick, and Texas lead at the half, 10-8.

The coaches noticed that the Rice forwards were showing fatigue at about 30 minutes into the first half, and adjusted at halftime to take advantage of the strong UT pack. Texas' forwards stacked behind the ball and plowed through Rice's gassed defense, slowly but surely wearing down the Rice front. When Rice had committed to defending the pick-and-go attack, Texas spun the ball out to its backs, who exploited gaps and created overloads in the defense, trying to make Rice pay for each mistake. Josh Burke again fell on a loose ball in the end-goal to complete a hat-trick after a shoe-string tackle by Mike McAllaster on a Rice winger. Burke's achievement and effort were recognized by the coaches with the title of Man of the Match. Congrats, Josh.

The play of the game came in the second half: Texas' captain, Jack Butler and prop Matt Gabriel dove on a loose ball inside Rice's 22. Gabriel made a great play in throwing his body between the ball and a Rice player trying to kick the ball away, taking a boot in the back in the process. Rather than fumbling with it and rushing the rest of the team, they together secured the ball, guaranteeing possession and allowing the rest of the attack time to form up and exploit the chaos on Rice's line for a try. It was a great example of Texas' textbook execution resulting in team success on the day. Check out the ref's opinion of the game here.

The second side match followed a similar course - tied 5-5 at halftime, the Longhorns again took advantage of superior conditioning to run away with the win, 34-5. The forwards carried the load in this game, as well, as the Rice defense had no answer to UT's power game of big, "Fat but not tired!" (Captain Badger Denehy) forwards right up the gut. Two players, forward Nick Serrano-Piche and fly-half Connor Brennan split the second side Man of the Match title. Connor for doing a great job getting the best out of a young back line, and Nick for his role as raw, destructive force. Both first and second side won their games in a feel-good fashion - pounding out a win with brute force in the second half. The official match report for the second side's game is here

The competition stiffens considerably next week, as the 'Horns take the long bus ride to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech in the desert, but the team is excited, and looks forward to the challenge.

Texas is 1-0 in conference play this season.