TRU Quarters Finally Announced

Sure, it is posted only one day before the actual games, but it's posted now. Better when its too late to do any good than never at all 'eh? The T.R.jUnta: "We know what's going on so you don't have to."

Here the bracket for your betting needs (not that we encourage that):


All these teams have played each other twice already in the regular season (except for Arlington and Alamo City), so...that's lame. The outcomes are mostly predictable if the season games are any indication. Bay Area and Denton should win their brackets. Alamo City should also win, but Arlington can always surprise you, especially if you take them for granted.

The most interesting game is UT Grads vs. Midland. These two teams traded games in the regular season, so it's a toss up. The Grads are hosting, so Midland will have to make an effort to travel in strength.

Half of the Semis might be interesting. Denton has already played, and defeated, everyone on their side of the bracket, so no reason to expect any excitement there. On the other side, Bay Area played Alamo City once, and won. But haven't played Arlington this year.

But, the odds are the game to watch will be the expected final: Bay Area vs. Denton. The two teams haven't played each other since 2005 (according to the TRU site anyway). And then, Bay Area came out of top: 22-10. But even a single year can be a very long time in rugby with the ebb and flow of players and talent.

eRugbyNews profiles Zee

eRugbyNews has republished the Rugby magazine profile of Zee, our Eagles 7s player.


An excerpt:

Most embarrassing moment in rugby: Trying to run over an opponent in the try zone when I could have grounded the ball. It resulted in me being held up and my team losing the game by an unconverted try.

Is Zee playing as Will Carling?

Plano at the AAC

The Plano Rugby U19s will be playing 10s in an exhibition match against Jesuit at the American Airlines Center on Monday, April 16th. The match will take place right after the Dallas Desperadoes arena football game, approximately 9 PM.

More from Nick Marketos:

This is an opportunity for us to showcase rugby to the public as well as get down to the AA center and watch some arena football.

We have been offered tickets to the Desperados at $20 each and I will need to know by next Tuesday [April 3] how many tickets to order. Please invite family, friends and the generally curious! We'd like as many supporters there as possible for when we put on our exhibition.

So, if you want to go, post a comment, email Nick or me, and I can give you his number.

Sounds like it should be fun! I'm sure the Reds will be out there supporting Jesuit. Let's get out there and support Plano!

TRU Regular Season Results

TRU Regular Season Results. I assume these are final, but I'm not sure. Quarterfinals start this weekend, allegedly. Presumably, the teams involved know, but you sure wouldn't know it from the TRU website.

The playoff structure takes the top two teams from each region go, then the next two teams in Total points from any region. Sadly, DARC missed the cut by a few points.

The overall order of finish (bold teams in the playoffs):

• Bay Area (11-0): 54
• Denton (10-0): 48
• Alamo City (9-2): 44
• Arlington (8-3): 39
• UT Grads (7-3): 35
• Midland (6-5): 30
• McAllen (6-5): 30
• Fort Sill (6-4): 28
• Austin Huns (5-5): 25
• DARC (4-7): 24
• Dallas Diablos (3-7): 15
• Corpus Christi (2-7-1): 11
• Galveston (2-8): 11
• Austin Lonestars (1-9): 7
• Victoria (1-9): 5
• Katy (0-7-1): 5

Kind of strange with some teams playing 10 games, others 11. Of the 6 teams that played 11 games, only did not make the playoffs (DARC). I'm sure we'll see Yet Another Year of Divisional Reorganization next year. Wheeeee!

Season Results

Cleaning up the old schedule. Here are the game results for this season:

• Sep. 16: SFA: W:36-15
• Oct. 07: Cowtown Tournament: 1-2
• Oct. 14: Fort Sill: L:30-22
• Oct. 21: UT Grads: L:31-12
• Oct. 28: Denton: L:22-14
• Nov. 04: Diablos: W:108-0
• Nov. 18: Arlington: L:11-10
• Jan: 20: Arlington: L:28-11
• Feb. 03: Midland: W:35-10
• Feb. 17: Fort Sill: L:33-12
• Feb. 24: Austin Huns: W:42-12
• Mar. 03: Denton: L:26-10
• Mar. 17: Diablos: W:83-0

Austin Tournament has been cancelled

Citing a large number of teams claiming they were unavailable, Austin had to unfortunately cancel this weekends tournament. In addition to our disappointment from a weekend of rugby and fun in Austin, we also need to remember that tournaments can be a big fund raiser for clubs. Austin has already printed up tournament shirts that they are now stuck with. They are offering them for $10 a piece to anyone who wants them. If you are interested, please contact me and we'll get in touch with Austin. Or, you can contact the Blacks directly through their website, http://www.austinrugby.com.

Early Celebration is Bad
Act life you've been there before



Why Rugby is better than Soccer
(wait for it)

Nice Run

A big thank you to all 14 of you that made it out to training last night; thanks for being there, thanks for being accomidating to the other teams, and thanks for the effort. I, for one, had a lot of fun and needed the run. In addition to those that made it out, I got two messages from people that would not be able to come for one reason or another. We will still be at Jack Carter next week as well.

Lots of stuff going on right now. Tonight (Friday, March 23rd) is the Hotties Fundraiser at the Tipp. Don't be shy, show up and win another date!

Next weekend is the Austin tournament. I'm really looking forward to that one; it's always a great time.

April 7th is the Plano Alumni game. I'll provide more details as they become available but we are all invited (or presence is even requested) for the day's activities.

Still Training

In case you hadn't heard, we have a tournement in Austin on March 31st. Until then, we are still training at Jack Carter Park in Plano. A grand total of five of us, counting Jon Savage, made it out last night. That's not gonna get it done. If for no other reason, come to practice so that you can make plans for the Austin trip. Of course, getting in a run and working on some of the many items that need improvement wouldn't hurt either.

I was also asked to remind everyone that the High Seas Hotties (the womens roller derby team we love so much) is having a fundraiser Friday night (March 23rd) down at the Tipp. If you remember what all happened at their last fund raiser, you can gusee what will ensue. If you don't know or haven't heard, I would suggest showing up. It can get rather, shall we say, festive.

See you all at training.

Austin Tournament Schedule (3/31)

The Austin Tourney was rescheduled from January to March 31st. Start making plans to go. I believe Bloo is getting the van. Bear and Kenny will be the "activities directors" for the trip.

The game schuedule is:

11:30 versus Huns II
1:30 versus San Antonio

Depending on how we do, the third game will be either at 3:30 or 4:30.

March Madness

The last home game of the regular season is this Saturday against the Diablos. Please be at the field by 12:00 (noon) to help set up the field. After the game(s), we will be migrating to the Tipp for some festivities. They are holding a big St. Pat's fiesta and have agreed to work a deal with us on the price. It should be fun.

On March 23rd, the High Seas Hotties (those wonderful roller girls) are having an event at the Tipp and we have been invited to come down. You guys made quite an impression on them the last time.

The Austin tourament that was rained out in January has been rescheduled for March 31. Since the club has already paid, we should probably enter a team. Austin is always a lot of fun and I'm hoping that some of the old boys will be able to crawl out of their rocking chairs for one last hourah. Our prodigal brother Kenny is already making plans for the road trip. Hope you are too.

Friday Night Fights (I mean hockey)

Here's the plan: meet up at Down Under (Jason's choice) in Frisco between 5:00 and 5:30 pm, have some dinner and a few drinks, introduce the wives and girlfriends and act like gentlement. Then we make our way over to the hockey rink where the puck drops at 7:30 and the first scuffle should happen by 7:45. This should be a nice, relationship fiendly evening.

Practice Cancelled

Sorry for the short notice. Practice canceled tonight.
Stay tuned for Thursday.

Me like Hockey!

No game this week, but we are planning to get together for some fun. Friday night in Frisco, we've got tickets for the Texas Tornado hockey game. Tickets are $10 a piece. Face off is at 7:30 and with no TV, it will probably end around 10. Great place to meet before you strike out at the bars. I'll be out Thursday with tickets. You can give money to Bloo or Swick tomorrow or give me a call. I can meet before the game outside the arena to get you your tickets.

Slow Start for DARC couldn't catch up to Denton

Lovely day for rugby on Saturday. Denton went up early and didn't look back, going up 21-Nil on 3 converted tries. DARC wasn't prepared for Denton's counterattacks and tackling was generally poor. Denton managed another try in the corner to make it 26.

Finally, DARC woke up. Tackles, attacks, and general defense greatly improved and they held Denton scoreless in the second half. They also managed to score two un-converted tries with hard work. Another try was almost in hand as we had some hot scrumhalf-on-scrumhalf action as Denton's scrumhalf pulled down DARC's by the collar as he reached the tryline or thereabouts after a long run.

The game was a bit scrappy, as always, but both teams found a common antagonist in what were decried as highly questionable calls and non-calls from the official.

Denton remains undefeated and will certainly be in the quarterfinals as a high seed.

After the main game, DARC played some 10s for the players who couldn't get in the first game. Old boy Sam Cole, or at least what remains of him after losing 100 pounds!, even got in on the action. Congrats, Sam!

Dues update

Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who've paid your dues. Several guys have paid in full for the season and I appreciate it. For the rest of you, get it to me as soon as you can.