by Travis Normand
May 8, 2020

For any Old Maroon members who have wished there were more matches to play as an Old Maroon squad, you might be getting your wish. Nothing is official yet, and I don’t speak for Old Maroon or the RRRC, but the collegiate side of the RRRC is thinking about putting together some old boy matches!

You can read more about this in my post over at “Maroon and White Rugby.“

by Travis Normand
March 27, 2020

The 2019-2020 RRRC All-Conference Team (XVs) was announced today with three Aggies making the team, and two more being named as “Honorable Mention.”  Congratulations to Kade Ball, Will Green, Jeremy Brown, Connor Kelly, and Thomas Batterson.

You can see the full All-Conference team HERE.

by John Diedenhofen
March 15, 2020

Regrettable news, Aggies…

Rugby competition has been suspended, due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This continues to be a highly dynamic and continuously developing situation.

Please continue to monitor D1A Rugby’s Website and other online sources for updates:  https://www.d1arugby.com/

Thank you,

JD ’90

by John Diedenhofen
March 15, 2020

Howdy, Ags!

Our Texas Aggies recently returned from a successful and enjoyable trip to the West Coast, where they netted the victory over Santa Clara University, and enjoyed a few days on the Central Coast.

Joe Bourgeois attended the Santa Clara match on Sunday, 8 March, and kept Old Maroon up to date on the score, etc., via social media.  Thank you, Joe!

From the D1A Rugby Website, at https://www.d1arugby.com/news/matches/round-20-recap-cal-saint-marys-and-lindenwood-remain-undefeated/:

“Elsewhere in California, Santa Clara played host to #23 Texas A&M on Sunday. Santa Clara scored first, as winger William Nelson dotted down for five points in the 13^th minute. The Aggies would take a 12-10 lead in the 32^nd minute following tries from flyhalf Preston Patterson and prop James Lardner. The Aggies would add to this lead in the second half, as they ran in another five tries to finish with a final score of 36-15.”

From there, our Aggies traveled to the Central Coast, spending a few days in Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo.  Yours truly provided a bit of beach grappling coaching at Pismo on the morning of Monday, 9 March.  The Aggies chased this with tourist and feed opportunities in Pismo, culminating in a magnificent pizza fest that evening at Del’s Pizzeria.  Such superb hospitality!

Regrettably, the match with Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo the following day, on Tuesday, 10 March, was not to be, due to severe weather.  No question, our Aggies were ready to roll, but this became a significant facilities issue, with flooding at multiple sites.

No question, sincerest gratitude and deepest respect to all Old Marooners for their financial, moral, etc., support in order to make these trips happen, with memories to last lifetimes.

Gig ‘Em!

JD ’90

by Travis Normand
February 24, 2020

I attended Texas A&M’s final Red River Rugby Conference XVs game of the 2019-2020 season on Saturday, February 22, 2020 (their final regular season game). The game was played at the USMLR’s Houston Sabercats’ Aveva Stadium. I could write an entire post on how fantastic the new Aveva stadium is and how amazing it is to have a rugby venue of this magnitude in Texas. If you get a chance to attend a game at Aveva stadium, I would highly recommend it.

The Aggies won their final regular season contest rather easily; and to be as blunt as possible, the Longhorns did not put up much of a fight. This is not to say the Aggies played a perfect game. In fact, had the Aggies been as sharp as they have been in the past, they could have easily broken the new Aveva stadium scoreboard by hanging triple-digits on their opponent. Instead, the Aggies only scored 92 points, while allowing the Longhorns to have 21 (and again, to be perfectly honest, the Longhorns were lucky to have scored the 21 points that they did).

Despite claims to the contrary (see here, here, and here), the Longhorn rugby club is just not on the same level as Texas A&M and they are not prepared to face competition of this type. After all, the past five match-ups between the two clubs (A-sides) have gone as follows:

(1) Feb. 22, 2020: Texas A&M – Win: 92-21 (in Houston);

(2) Nov. 2, 2019: Texas A&M – Win: 34-13 (in Austin);

(3) Jan. 26, 2019: Texas A&M – Win: 98-3 (in Austin);

(4) Sept. 22, 2018: Texas A&M – Win: 69-0 (in College Station); and

(5) Mar. 24, 2018: Texas A&M – Win: 19-5 (in College Station).

That is a scoring advantage by A&M of 312-42!

This past Saturday’s game featured uncontested scrums starting at around the 5 minute mark (5 minutes into the game) as the Longhorns’ hooker (No. 2, Jack Hurley) unfortunately broke his hand or wrist, and they only had three players qualified for the front row. While I truly hope Hurley’s hand is not actually broken, and I wish him a speedy recovery (regardless of the injury), the fact that the Longhorns could not field a proper pack of forwards is telling as to their level of competitiveness.

As I watched the game unfold, I couldn’t help but realize how awful the Longhorns’ forward play was, as they not only had an insufficient front row but they were also totally incapable of performing an effective ruck of any kind. I am not sure what they need to do in order to fix that problem, as they did appear to have some guys playing forward positions that are of decent size. However, they clearly are in need of a forwards coach that can instill some amount of skill and/or aggressiveness in those orange clad forwards. As I was leaving the game, I happen to walk past the Longhorns’ coach whom I overheard talking about how ineffective they were at the breakdown (I felt it necessary to tell him how much I agreed.)

On the other hand, the Aggies finished their RRRC season in impressive fashion and picked up 5 points towards the conference standings (finishing with a total of 30 points out of 30 possible; 5 points earned in all six conference games). The Aggies will now have to wait and see if Oklahoma can do the same, as the Sooners currently have 25 and only need to earn 5 points in their final game against UNT on February 29th.

For a complete game re-cap that is play-by-play or score-by-score, click HERE to read what I posted at “Maroon & White Rugby.”