Thoughts on ARC 7s

Captain Conor Mills

The Aggies came out on top of the first-ever ARC 7s event and it feels good!  Despite injuries and playing below our capability, the Ags demonstrated the character they are famous for and pulled out a major tournament win.  While disappointed in the pool loss to Colorado State, the coaching staff was thrilled with the quality of play in the semis and final. 

 

Moving forward, it will be critical that the Aggies are mentally focused and prepared to play in ALL of their matches.  There was some complacency apparent on Saturday, but to the team's immense credit, they demonstrated tremendous character in erasing that complacency.  We displayed offensive skill throughout the tournament and showed the opposition our ability to score from anywhere on the pitch.  Unfortunately, our defense was uneven.  We need to do a better job in the tackle as the opposition slipped way too many arm-tackles, especially in the loss to CSU.  If we can improve defensively and maintain our offensive acumen, the Aggies will continue to be successful throughout the 7s season. 

 

Everyone was impressed by the play of Colorado State thoughout the tournament.  They are physically tough and fast.  No one will be surprised if they qualify for the national championship tournament.  They are definitely the type of team who will take advantage of any weakness you show during a match and are well-coached in basic skills.    They moved the ball through the backs quickly and took advantage of switches and double-switches in the first match.  We did not tackle well and as a result they ended up with four tries. 

 

 It is clear that the quality of 7s rugby has risen a great deal since last year.  It will become increasingly difficult to win tournaments and matches.  We are seeing that classic adage - "on any given Sunday."  Sevens rugby is an unforgiving game and quality teams can beat anyone if their opposition is not mentally or physically prepared.  This makes 7s exciting for fans and nerve-wracking for coaches as they must have players prepared to play every match - there are no easy matches anymore. 

Leading Aggie Scorers for ARC 7s

Brian Guillen

Senior wing Brian Guillen led the way for the Aggies in scoring at the ARC 7s in Norman with 40 points.  He scored eight tries on the weekend, including three in the Aggie's semi-final win over OU.  Captain Conor Mills was not far behind Guillen with a 31 point total.  Tyler Gessner finished the weekend with 21 points.  A&M scored 125 points on the weekend and demonstrated that they are capable of putting up some good offensive production.

Points Leaders            Tries             Conversions        Total

Brian Guillen                     8                         0                     40

Conor Mills                      3                         8                     31

Tyler Gessner                   3                         3                     21

Aaron Durke                    2                         0                     10

Lukas Jacobson               2                         0                     10     

Matt Theodore                 2                         0                    10

Chris Frazier                    1                         0                      5

Aggies Win ARC 7s Tournament

Texas A&M traveled north to Norman, OK for the first-ever Allied Rugby Conference 7s tournament, hosted by OU, this weekend.  The Aggies fought their way to a championship with an amazing 12-5 victory over Colorado State University.  The tournament featured two pools of four teams in the varsity bracket in addition to a JV and developmental bracket.

The Aggies began their day with a 34-0 victory over Baylor University in pool play.  Lukas Jacobson had two nice tries in the match, but came out early due to a previous injury which kept him out for most of the day.  A&M followed their victory over the Bears with a nail-biter against Texas Tech.  Tech, a very athletic team, took the match all the way down to the wire before Brian Guillen scored a try right at the end of regulation to seal the victory 26-19.  

The final pool match against Colorado State University was a disaster for the Aggies.  The Aggies spotted the Rams a four try lead in the first half before storming back to score three tries of their own.  However, it was too little - too late for the Ags who came out with a 28-19 loss.  More importantly, it pushed A&M to a second place finish in pool play and forced them to play Oklahoma University in the semi-final.  OU breezed through their pool play giving the Aggies a challenging road to the championship.

Looking absolutely nothing like the team that lost to CSU, the Aggies dominated their semi-final against OU, coming out with a lopsided 36-5 victory.  Brian Guillen had 3 tries in the match, and was joined by Durke, Mills, and Gessner in the scoring column.  The Aggies controlled possession and territory for virtually the entire match and shocked the Sooners who had been dominant all day.  The Texas A&M defense was solid, and the victory was clearly their best effort so far.

After defeating OU, the Aggies faced CSU again in the championship match. CSU received a 28-0 forfeit victory over Oklahoma State, who decided to leave the tournament early.  The Rams were fast, big physically, and skilled - presenting a fierce challenge to the Aggies aspirations for a tournament championship.

Unlike the first match between the two, this one proved to be a defensive battle for 14 minutes.  It appeared that it was going to be a fireworks display when Guillen scored a try in the first 41 seconds, giving the Ags a 5-0 lead.  The Rams struck back at 2:42 with a long try by their winger who had been brilliant all day, tying the match at 5-apiece.  The match settled into a slugging match with neither side gaining any advantage until late in the first half.  Jan Young was yellow-carded for a questionable high-tackle and the Aggies went down a man.  A fierce defensive effort by the remaining six managed to keep the Rams from penetrating the goal line and the half ended tied.  The second half was more of the same until freshman Matt Theodore got a pass from Mills in the closing seconds and scored under the posts for a thrilling 12-5 championship win!

    

Aggies Excited About 2012-2013 Season

The 2012 rugby season was a rollercoaster ride for Aggies. There were some incredible highs and some rough lows...

In their first ever season at 7s the Aggies won a thrilling Big XII championship and qualified for nationals where they finished 11^th out 30 teams. The fifteen’s squad finished the season at 7-4, with a 4-4 record in Division-1A competition. The Aggies won both home and away matches against Oklahoma and Notre Dame, however were solidly defeated by Arkansas State and Life University. “We were inconsistent last year,” said head coach Brett Mills, “if we can become more consistent and believe in ourselves more this year, we are going to have a great deal of success.”

The Aggies join the Allied Rugby Conference (ARC) this year for its inaugural season. The ARC will compete in D-1A, which is the highest level of collegiate competition in the country. “I am extremely proud and excited to be a part of this new conference, it has the potential to become something very special,” stated Mills. “We are excited about getting back in a conference with traditional rivals UT and Sam Houston State, and retaining our relationship with Oklahoma.” The ARC membership includes Texas A&M, University of Texas, University of Oklahoma, Baylor University, Sam Houston State University, and Texas Tech University. Aggie team president Chris Frazier added, “We are really delighted that most of our matches will be within driving distance of our fans, so we hope that our supporters and alumni come out to see us both at home and on the road.” The Aggies also have BYU, ASU, and Life on the schedule and are hoping to have Army and the Air Force Academy as well. This will be one of the most competitive schedules for the Aggies in recent memory.

The Aggies will play an expanded 7s season this year with a number of tournaments in the ARC. They will take part in the SEC 7s Championship and the ARC 7s Championship, both of which will be national qualifiers. “We are very excited about sevens this year, and come into our second season with a great deal more experience than last year,” commented Mills. The Aggies 7s outfit boats one of the top sevens’ players in the country in Brian Guillen. Mills adds, “Brian is a dangerous offensive player and really makes things happen for us. I know he is going to be even better this season after playing sevens all summer long.”

Mills is very excited about the prospects for the Aggies going into the fifteens season. “We are returning twelve starters from a team that played an extremely tough schedule last year and finished 7-4. If we can stay healthy and find some depth, we are going to present a real challenge to our competitors,” said Mills. The Aggies will be led by their senior captain and Collegiate All-American, Conor Mills. Mills was third in D-1A in scoring with 101 points (168 total) and led the nation in penalty kicks with 18. “Conor’s real talent is his ability to read a game and give his backfield mates chances to do what they do best. We scored 434 points last year with Conor running the game, so I am excited to see what he will do his senior year,” said coach Mills. Mills is just one of the talented backs the Aggies feature. “In my opinion, we have one of the most talented back divisions in the country, and if they stay healthy, they are going to score a lot of tries.”

Veterans Lukas Jacobson (fullback), Jan Young (center), Brian Guillen (wing), Aaron Durke (scrumhalf), Tyler Gessner (center), Grayson Dowlearn (center), Cody Yarbrough (center) and Matt Saladino (wing) are all returning and have benefitted tremendously from last year’s tough schedule. This gives the Aggies some exciting options. “Our guys are big, powerful, athletic, and skilled with a ball,” said captain Conor Mills, “we can score from anywhere on the field and teams cannot focus on one guy because everyone is dangerous.” The backs scored 46 of the 58 team tries last year which says a lot about the quality in the back division.

Despite the quality of the backs, Mills, a former forward, believes strongly in the importance of his forwards and their ability to establish not only the platform for the backs, but the tone of the game. “Aggie rugby has a proud tradition of being a physically tough and hard team, we will continue that tradition this year,” said senior hooker Andres Diaz. The pack returns Diaz, Armando De la Garza (prop), Dickson Garnett (prop), Chris Semler (lock), John Deao (lock and vice-captain), Raymond Hawkins (flanker), Chris Frazier (flanker), and Jonathan Barbee (#8). “We return the entire pack from last year, which is extremely exciting for us. Coach Jeremy Stewart, our forwards coach, does a brilliant job of getting these guys ready to play each week, and I know that they will be extremely physical and tough this season,” said Mills. “Diaz sets the tempo for us with his intensity, but the rest of these guys are hard at both the breakdown and in the tackle.” Mills is exceptionally high on Chris Frazier who he thinks might be one of the best loose forwards he has ever worked with. “Chris is fearless, has an exceptional motor, and is relentless in the tackle. He is like a shark in that he never gives up on his prey.”

The key to success this year, as it is every year, is keeping the Aggies healthy. “We have to stay healthy if we are going to be successful this year. We want to continue to build our depth and I think we are going to be very deep in certain areas,” stated Mills, “we have some exciting walk-on athletes coming in and some really great freshman as well. I expect that there will be a good deal of competition for spots in the twenty-three which is only going to make us better.”

The Aggies’ success does not all rest on the field, and Mills is quick to complement the work of Rugby Director Craig Coates. “Craig has been amazing, he has been the driving force in our transition to the new conference, works with our alumni, and keeps the Aggie ship running tight,” stated Mills, “he allows me to coach rugby without having to worry about all the extremely important but time-consuming details that go into managing a rugby team. I think we work extremely-well together and I am excited about working with him again this season.”

Mills Named All-American

Aggie captain Conor Mills was named Honorable Mention All-American at the end of the 2012 campaign.  Mills, who plays flyhalf, was third in scoring in D1-A last season (101), fifth in conversions (19), and led the country in penalty kicks (16), while helping led the Aggies to a 7-4 record.

 

Mills finished the season with a 169 total points (5 tries, 45 conversions, 18 penalty kicks).  He also led the team in assists with 15.  One of the highlights of the season for Mills was a five penalty kick performance against Notre Dame in the final match.  As a result of his selection, Mills was invited to the All-American camp in Houston which took place in June.  Mills joins recent Aggie alumn Hunter Leland and Chris Parker on the All-American list.

Aggies v. Rice

The following article appeared in Rugby Magazine:

 

 

The Aggies traveled to Houston on Saturday to take on Southwestern Conference member Rice University in an early season matchup.  After just a week of practice, the Aggie staff was uncertain about how well A&M was going to play after summer break.  “You never feel like you have enough to prepare for a match at any time during the season, “ said head coach Brett Mills, “but with a week to train and get ready our anxiety was pretty high.  Our expectations were simple, we hoped to run our pattern with some structure and play hard defense.”  The Aggies were able to accomplish both in a 70-6 season opening win.

Texas A&M played its starters in the first half and built a 35-6 lead.  Mills brought on a new group for the second half who added 35 more points to the total.  “I was really pleased with the way both groups played,” stated Mills, “Our first group did exactly what I hoped they would.  I was most excited about the intensity of our defense.  Even though we made some structural errors, our tackling was extremely hard, which resulted in a number of Rice mistakes.”  The Aggies were able to take advantage of the mistakes resulting from their defensive pressure and point up big points on the day.  Center Jan Young and prop Dickson Garnett both had two tries apiece in the first half.  Wing Brian Guillen added a try and flyhalf Conor Mills was five for five on conversions.

Scrumhalf Aaron Durke starts the attack

Sophomore center Grayson Dowlearn led the way in the second half with two tries.  Prop Garrett Dishman, frosh flanker Danny Amsler, and center Andrew McMath all added solo tries during the second stanza.  Scrumhalf Rob Larsen matched Mills’ effort in the first half going five for five on conversions.  “I could not have been more pleased with the way this group played,” commented Mills, “If we are going to win in the ARC and against other D1-A competition, we must have depth.  We found out on Saturday that we have a lot of guys who are going to be battling for playing time, which makes us better.”

Team captain Conor Mills added, “We are very pleased with the results today.  It is obvious, based on turnovers and defensive mistakes, that we have a lot of work to do, but I think we are way ahead of where we were last year.”  The coaching staff was overall pleased with the result against a strong Rice team.  “I think Rice is a very good team and Mario is an exceptional coach,” said coach Mills, “They were a playoff team last year and will be again this year.  The Owls are fundamentally sound and hard physically.  Rice gave us an excellent challenge and the final score is no way indicative of the quality of this opponent.”

 

ARC 7s Clinic

The Aggie coaching staff participated in the first ever coaching clinc for the Allied Rugby Conference this past weekend (Sept. 22-23).  The clinic featured former US National 7s team coach Al Caravelli, who combined classroom lecture with on-field work.  Caravelli was brilliant throughout both days, providing coaches with practical knowledge and insight into the highest level of the sport.  It is very rare that Texas coaches have the opportunity to work one-on-one with someone of Caravelli's background, and all who were took part were very excited about the experience.

 

In addition to coaches, Aggie players took part throughout the weekend, learning technique and getting individual advice from Caravelli.  It was a great experience for all players, especially those new to the game.  Caravelli has the ability to put players at ease while at the same time imparting a great deal of information.  Everyone was engaged by Coach Caravelli and delighted with his willingness to answer any and all questions.

 

This was a brilliant first effort on the part of the ARC, and we hope that it is the first of many such clinics in the years to come.  After watching the different schools in attendance, it is clear that the ARC 7s series will be competitive in nature - the Aggies look forward to the challenge!