OU Wins in Dallas!- Pics
The OU Men took our annual trip to Dallas on the same weekend as the OU-Texas football game. The University of Texas backed out of the traditional match up but SMU was game and proved to be gracious hosts and spirited rugby players, as always.
We traveled as team on Thursday evening. After checking in we had a reception for high school players at the home of Anthony and Kelly Mattachione. The food was great and OU Rugby Alumni President Mike Logsdon made an appearance. He outlined plans for the group to help in the support of current team.
On Friday we had our normal walk-thru. Dallas Jesuit Prep was kind enough to let us use their rugby/football facility. After we had a nice team lunch. The boys spent their down time watching classic OU-Texas games on ESPN Classic.
The weather was perfect at kick off and OU looked great early and followed our recent trend of quick strikes. Sophomore #8 Eric Meyers executed a perfect back row maneuver from the base and fed senior #6 Ben Pearcy for the try. SMU regained their composure and fought hard in the loose play and forced many turnovers and penalties. OU maintained good pressure missing several opportunities but finally getting rewarded at the 26th minute when Captain Jack Meek dotted it down in loose play.
Again SMU responded with physical play and stuck to their game plan. The Mustangs got on the board at the end of the first half with a break away by their winger. The half finished 10-5.
OU started the second half looking more inspired and more confident. 10 minutes into the half, heavy pressure from the forwards resulted in flanker sub Adam McCall scoring. A few minutes later Meyers called his own number from the back row and darted in for the try. It looked like the Sooners were ready to run away with it but SMU was determined and a high tackling call 2 minutes after the try resulted in prop Daniel Smith being binned. Minutes later the fullback from SMU made a huge break after an Arryn Wilkinson break. Possession was not retained and SMU capitalized. That was it for the scoring as the rest of the match was spent chasing SMU kicks and some real smash mouth rugby. The final was OU-20 SMU-10.
The weekend was a success for us. The team acted professionally over the weekend and used the weekend to come together. SMU was tougher than expected and that was good for us. They were physical and kept it up for the entire game. This was big wake up call for us as we head in to big matches with Texas Tech, High Dirt, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in consecutive weekends.
Positives- Our fitness looked better. The man of the day was Sophomore John Poynter. He worked well with Dennis "4 O'clock" Coleman in the scrums and was a menace defensively in the lineouts and is becoming a force in the loose play. John is also developing a voice on the field that will soon be a voice of leadership. Freshman Arryn Wilkinson looked great once again starting at outside center and moving to fullback due to an injury. Several guys were out of position due to injuries, but they responded like men and found a way to win. We also got a look at new props and second rows in the B-match.
We need to work on finishing scoring opportunities and we will continue to strengthen our defensive patterns. Having players out with injuries and other issues has allowed us to develop players even though it has thrown us off at times. To be successful we are going to learn to deal with this adversity and be a better rugby team for it by getting better every week.
Next up is Texas Tech in Norman.
Coach Forehand