Texas Rugby Union Championship
Baton Rouge vs. DARC(Semi-Final)
Baton Rouge vs. Austin Huns(Final)
Date: March 27 & 28, 2004
Time: 4pm Saturday(Semi-Final) 2pm Sunday(Final)
Venue: Burr Field Austin, TX
Referees: Rich Prim(Final)
Sirs:
Submitted by John Godbee(PR
Chairperson)
After racing past the
Dallas Area Rugby Club in the Texas Rugby Union
semi-final on
Saturday, the Baton Rouge Rugby
Football
Club lost an 8 - 6
heart stopper to the Austin Huns Rugby Football Club in the
TRU final on Sunday in Austin.
The final was played on a warm, humid afternoon under partly cloudy skies.
Baton Rouge and Austin had met in Baton Rouge on Mardis Gras weekend
during the regular season with Baton Rouge putting on an impressive offensive
display and coming away with a convincing 30 - 10 victory. In
Sunday's final, however, Austin was effective in smothering the quicker Baton
Rouge back line before they could develop their attacking movements,
turning the game over to the two teams' respective packs of forwards to slug it
out. Austin took a 3 - 0 on a penalty kick mid-way through the first half
after a period of sustained pressure in the Baton Rouge end. Only some
heroic scrambling defense by Baton Rouge on two occasions kept the Huns out of
the try zone. Baton Rouge leveled the score at 3 -3 on a penalty kick of
their own late in the half.
The second half was the kind of classic struggle that rugby purists love.
Baton Rouge took a 6 - 3 lead ten minutes after the restart and looked to be the
team in the ascendant for the first time in the match. Though Austin held
the territory advantage throughout the final forty minutes, they struggled to
cash in with points, missing several makeable penalty kicks. Baton Rouge
had their fair share of quality possession throughout the half, but constant
defensive pressure by the Huns made it almost impossible for the backs push the
ball downfield, either through the running game or through the kicking game.
The match went into the final fifteen minutes with Baton Rouge still clinging to
a scant 3 point lead. Time after time, Baton Rouge withstood the Huns'
pressure only meters from the goal, knowing full well that conceding a try could
mean the match, but they simply couldn't force the Huns into making
the mistake
which would have enabled Baton Rouge to clear their own lines. With less
than seven minutes remaining, Austin mauled impressively off of a lineout and
drove to within five meters of the Baton Rouge goal. Several more pick and
drives took the ball to within a meter of the line. The tackled Austin
forward gave a final lunge and the referee awarded him a try. Down 8 - 6
with time running out Baton Rouge now had to manufacture a scoring strike from
deep within their own end. Their best break of the day came on the games'
final play as they finally got the ball to the wing who beat his own defender,
only to lose a footrace with the covering defender twenty two meters from the
winning try. The referee detected a knock on at the subsequent breakdown
and blew the whistle to end the match.
Saturday's semi-final against Dallas Athletic Rugby Club (DARC) was an offensive
and defensive showcase for Baton Rouge. They scored in the first minute of
play, then gave up a long run for a try from a speedy DARC wing before
eventually turning on the offensive firepower to take a 28 -5 lead into the
half. Two second half trys and a penalty kick made the final score 43 - 5
in favor Baton Rouge.Baton
Rouge's record currently stands at 14 - 3 for the year. They finished at 7
-1 in the Texas Rugby Union.
While Sunday's loss in the final was disappointing to say the least, Baton Rouge
still advanced to the Western Regional Championships to be held next month in
Fort Worth on the basis of their second place finish in the Texas Rugby Union.
Austin advanced as the TRU Champion. The teams will play three matches
over three days against six other teams from five states. The three top
finishing teams at the Western Championships will become part of the USA Rugby
Division II final sixteen matrix. Both Baton Rouge and Austin made it to
the Western Regional Championships last year, but failed to qualify for the
final sixteen pairings.