Aggies Demolish Bearkats

The rugby press and pundits had the Aggies as an underdog in their ARC opener against Sam Houston State University.  On the D1-A site, Sam Houston State was picked to "shake off their loss to Tech last week and come out strong against a struggling A&M team."  The Aggies received little respect in recent weeks due to losses to LSU, ASU, and BYU, all of whom are quality teams (BYU - 2012 National Champion - ASU 2012 Runnerup).  However, the Aggies played well against BYU and were anxious to prove their critics wrong; something which did not bode well for the Bearkats.  The Aggies are always tough at home, but with the added incentive provided by the media, they played with a renewed determination and purpose.  The result was a 105-7 victory - statement made - don't quite count the Aggies out yet.

 

Chris Frazier had his usual strong day against SHSU

The Aggies made a number of lineup changes going into the match.  Internal and eligibility issues resulted in some major rearrangement amongst the starters.  Lukas Jacobson moved to scrumhalf from his usual fullback, Brian Guillen shifted from wing to outside center, Dylan Starks from wing to fullback, and Matt Krath made his first start at #11.  With that many changes in the back division there was some pre-game concern about continuity among the backs, however, this proved to be ill-founded - flyhalf Conor Mills managed the offense to perfection and the backs ended up scoring 7 tries on the day.

 

The match started out inauspiciously for the Aggies when SHSU's flyhalf stepped in front of a pass at the goal line for an intercept try - film showed that he was at least 5 meters offside.  The Ags bounced back after a couple of long runs and scores by Lukas Jacobson and Brian Guillen.  The Aggies then began to roll offensively - scoring 55 unanswered points before the half.  The forwards dominated the breakdowns and set-pieces, while Mills kept the backs moving, alternating between deep kicks and attacking. 

 

The second half was more of the same as the Aggies scored another 50 points.  Centers J.D. Smiley and Brian Guillen both had hat-tricks on the day, while John Deao, Andres Diaz, and Philip Hanson all had two tries apiece.  Mills led all scorers with 22 points on 11 conversions.  He also had 5 assists during the match.

 

This was a fantastic team effort and all the players that were in the 23 played well.  It was exciting for the Aggies to receive a reward for all of their hard-work especially after enduring a rough three weeks.  The Man of the Match (forward) was Andres Diaz and the Man of the Match (back) was J.D. Smiley.  The Aggies now prepare for this week's matchup against a resurgent Baylor program.