... Against RICE! RICE! RICE!

There's one D-1 sports program at the University of Texas that you probably haven't heard much about, so here's a little season-intro for the Texas Rugby club, hopefully a recurring feature. --Horn Brain

This Saturday, your Texas Longhorns Rugby team will be making its first appearance on the pitch in conference play at 2PM in Houston.  The field is located on the north side of campus, roughly at the corner of Shepherd and Rice Boulevard, if any of you Houstonian 'Horns just can't "bear" the sight of your basketball team taking less overtimes than A&M to lose to Baylor (Just a joke, Go B-Ball!).

More on the game and a preseason recap after the break...

The Ruckin' 'Horns come into conference play after an injury-plagued and frustrating start to the year in fall-play.  After a 29-24 scare against UNT, the 'Horns dropped a game to the Austin Huns Men's Rugby Club 13-14.  Texas came back strong with a 32-0 dismantling of SFA, but dropped a game to a very good San Antonio Men's Club 17-26 and had its heart broken repeatedly on the goal-line in a 14-15 nail-biter revenge-game loss to Texas State.  Aside from exhibition games, the club hit bad luck twice and a better team once in the Big 12 Tournament, going 0-3 with two losses coming on big plays in the closing minutes of the match.

The first two matches of the Spring were canceled.  The first, a non-con at San Angelo State, due to SAS's forgetting to schedule a ref, and the second, the conference opener against LSU at home, was canceled due to the IM Fields' policy of never, ever turning off their sprinklers, even if it rains four or five days a week.  The game will be rescheduled in March.
(ed. note -- Humph.)

The Longhorns now look for revenge (yes, we'll admit it) this Saturday against a Rice team that stole a game last spring.  The injury-riddled 'Horns are slowly getting healthier after the winter break, and should be near full strength next week at Texas Tech, or the next week at Sam Houston State, which is why a win this weekend is so important.  A win puts Texas in good position to make a run at the conference title, while a loss would almost certainly force us to win every remaining game, including three back-to-back against teams ranked in the Top 25 to close the season.

Use the comments if you have any questions, also check out the Texas Rugby website for info on the club and to check out our schedule.  I'll write a follow-up after the game, hopefully to be posted on Sunday.  Until then, wish us luck, and

Ruck 'em!
Maul 'em!
Hook 'em, 'Horns!

--Horn Brain