Aggies Win SEC 7s Championships

The Aggies traveled to Montgomery, Alabama for the SCRC (Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference) 7s Championships this past weekend.  Texas A&M entered both a varsity and junior varsity squad in the competition and came away champions in both divisions.  This was an excellent showing on the back of the Aggies recent championship win at the ARC 7s.

The tournament format consisted of four pools, with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for the quarterfinals.  The quarterfinals, semifinals, and final were all held on Sunday.  Texas A&M was grouped with Auburn University and Ole Miss in varsity pool D.

The Aggies put on an impressive offensive display in both their pool matches, defeating Auburn 33-0 and Ole Miss 45-0.  Chris Frazier notched two tries in the opening match and Lukas Jacobson added two in the second match.  The scoring was balanced with a number of Aggies scoring tries during the day.  TAMU made easy work of Pool D which resulted in an early morning quarterfinal tilt against the University of Alabama.

The Crimson Tide suffered a slim loss to LSU in pool play and demonstrated a tremendous amount of physicality throughout a tough match.  The Aggies expected a hard game against Bama and hoped to move the ball around the park, keeping it away from the Tide defense.  The plan worked to perfection as the Aggies came away with a convincing 34-7 victory.  An Aggie miscue at a scrum inside their own 10 meters, resulted in the only score for Alabama.  The Aggies dominated possession throughout the match, moving the ball around the  pitch fluidly throughout the game.  Chris Frazier had a brilliant match with three tries - all from long distance.  

Auburn won their quarterfinal as well with an upset against LSU, giving the teams a rematch in the semifinal.  Beating a team twice in a tournament is a hard task, and the Aggies knew the Tigers would present a stiffer challenge than their previous game - and that is exactly what they got.  TAMU walked away with a 22-5 victory, but it was a hard-fought one.  The Aggies had only twenty minutes between quarterfinal and semifinal which gave little time for recovery, but they managed to dig deep and pull out the win.  Jacobson, Mills, Guillen, and Gessner all scored tries.  In the other semifinal, University of Georgia pulled off a stunning upset over highly-favored University of Tennessee, setting the stage for the varsity final.

2012 SEC 7s Champions

Jan Young started the final off in grand fashion with a smashing 50 meter run for the try.  Mills hit his conversion and the Aggies were up 7-0 early.  Georgia came storming back a short time later (3:17).  The Aggies jumped back into the lead at the half when Aaron Durke made a piercing run through the heart of the Georgia defense for a score.  Mills tacked the extras and the Aggies were up 14-5  The Bulldogs were tenacious though and once again came storming back with another nifty try (10:19) after the Aggies turned the ball over in tackle.  The Aggies held a slim 14-10 lead when Tyler Gessner gutted the Bulldog's hopes with a run right through the heart of their defense (13:14).  He added another after a Georgia turnover (14:39), helping the Aggies to the victory circle with a 28-10 win over a very-talented Georgia squad!