Final Thoughts on National Championships

Aggie National Championship Squad

The 7s National Championships have come and gone for another year - what an experience!  Texas A&M did another fantastic job hosting this event and some special thanks go out to some individuals.  Director of Rugby Craig Coates did his usual amazing work with logistics and providing direction to the event.  He served as our liaison with USA Rugby and did a masterful job getting everything ready!  We could not do these types of events without Craig.  A special thanks goes out to the Sports Rec and Keith Joseph along with his team.  Keith was awesome in getting the wheels of A&M running smoothly and making this a special event.  Again, an event of this caliber would not have happened without Keith and we appreciate him more than he knows.  Finally, I cannot express how proud we are of all the work the A&M players put in over a long period of time.  Chris Frazier is the epitome of what a president should be and serves with humor, selflessness, and tireless effort - well done Chris.  All of our officers have been outstanding.  Garrett Dishman is the man!  He organized and managed all the volunteers over the course of the event and did it with Aggie hospitality and a smile on his face (which is quite a feat when dealing with college rugby players and a large crowd).  Well done to everyone - we can be proud of the event, the hospitality we provided, and how we represented Texas A&M University and Aggie Rugby!

Lets not forget that the Aggies played in the tournament as well - finishing 8th!  We are thrilled about the top ten finish, but at the same time disappointed because we felt we were a fraction away from finishing much higher.  We played an extremely tough St. Mary's team right down to the wire, and had we taken advantage of our opportunities, we could have pushed through with a win.  This could have been huge as it would have given us someone other than Life in the Cup Quarterfinals.  We played Life extremely tough throughout the first half and had we been awarded Theodore's score, we would have been 10-5 or 10-7 at the half.  This would have been a huge difference and given us some momentum.  The Navy match was right down to the wire and had we not played such a poor first half, we could have beat Navy.  I think the emotions and physical nature of the St. Mary's and Life matches took too much out of us.  Plenty of analysis to build on for next year, but in the end it was an amazing 7s season.  Our guys played fantastic from the beginning to the end.  Like life, rugby is a journey and we learned a lot about ourselves - what we are capable of, where our weaknesses lie, how much work is required to be successful, and how important the mental and team aspects are.  Throughout the season I told the team that there is no other group of people I would rather take this voyage with than these guys.  I am extremely proud to have been along for the journey and cannot in words express my gratitude and love for my Aggie players - well done men!