With February coming to a close, many divisions are hitting the halfway point of their season. Few undefeated teams remain on the playing field, and while some are running out of steam, some teams are finding their groove and really just hitting their stride. Who’s up and who’s down? Read on to get the whole picture.
Men's Premiership
It’s truly anyones to play for in the Men’s Premiership as another two weeks of play gave us a complicated table to dissect. The Dallas RFC beat the Austin Blacks 26-20 on February 10th in a sloppy muddy battle. The Reds then continued their streak by beating the Sabercats 2 at home on the 17th, while the Blacks roared back with their own 44-5 win over the Quins. So the Huns beat Dallas RFC who beat the Blacks and the Sabercats 2 who both beat the Huns and the Quins who have yet to play the Huns. Simple enough really. How does this change the table? Dallas RFC jump up to the top spot, with the Blacks sliding into second which drops the Sabercats 2 down to third. The Huns and Quins remain at 4th and 5th.
Coming up on the 24th we’ve got the rematch of the Quins (5) hosting the Sabercats 2 (3), a 31-27 win to the Sabercats 2 in December. On March 2nd the Quins (5) host the Austin Huns (4) who are back for their first game in a month. Will the time off help them or hurt them? We shall find out in March.
Women's D1
The Women’s Division 1 is on a winter hiatus until the Valkyries host the sHARCs on March 9th. Both teams will be playing matches outside of Texas in order to hit the number of matches required to be eligible for USAR postseason, and we will cover them as they happen, kicking off February 24th.
It is worth a note that the Valkyries traveled to the New Orleans Half-Moons tournament and took home first in what looked like a swimming pool. Congratulations Valks!
Men's D2
Every team in the Men’s D2 had a match over the last two weekends, some of which didn’t change the standings much and some that did. First up, Dallas RFC took on the Austin Blacks as part of the Reds/Blacks triple-header. A nail biter of a match that saw Dallas take it by 2 and get that much closer to overtaking the Blacks on the table. The two are both at 4-1, but the Blacks edge ahead with two more bonus points. Fort Worth blanked The Woodlands 31-0 which shot them up from 6th to playoff contention 4th, while The Woodlands dropped down. The Austin Huns lost 20-10 to table topper HURT, which dropped them down to 6th while DARC got their first win of the season against HARC 5-0 and rose to 7th from 9th. Grand Prairie lost to San Antonio dropping down one, while San Antonio stays at 5th.
Another two busy weekends coming up for these teams, with some matches of note. On February 24th the Austin Huns (6) will host San Antonio (5) and Fort Worth (4) host Dallas (3). The following weekend the Austin Blacks (2) host HURT (1) while The Woodlands (9) host the Austin Huns (6). However with only a few weeks left in the regular season, all teams are trying to make it into the top to compete for playoff qualification and every game matters.
Women's D2
Two games on the 17th was enough to shake up the standings a bit. First up the sHARCs traveled to Round Rock to take on the rage. A thrilling match with scores on both sides resulted, with sHARCs taking home the spoils 39-19. Leading the charge from the sHARCs was number 8 Leslie Schroeder with three tries and prop Rebekah Williams with two of her own. Heading to Arkansas, Little Rock managed to take down top of the table Dallas Harlequins with home field advantage. The Harlequins outscored Little Rock two tries to one, but it was the sure boot of Abby Vestal that sent over 2 penalty goals for the Stormers to protect their 13-12 win. Despite this impressive win, Little Rock are 3rd in the standings, behind the sHARCs and the Dallas Harlequins. The top three teams are currently one table point away from each other, telling us that at the end of the season it all could come down to bonus points.
The Round Rock Rage have a busy next two weekends as they travel to Dallas on the 24th to take on the Quins, followed by hosting Little Rock at home. Meanwhile BARC hosts San Antonio, both teams looking for their first win.
Men's D3
Nothing has changed in the D1-C standings, except the Austin Blacks security at number 1. Two big wins for the Blacks in February as they took down Dallas on the road (the only Blacks side to get a win that derby day) and the following weekend as they smashed the Quins back at Burr. The Austin Huns get back into the mix on March 2nd as they host the Dallas Harlequins, a tight battle of 2 vs 3.
In the Central region, San Antonio have yet to be dethroned as they clocked two wins over Ft Hood and Alamo City, extending their lead at the top. Both Alamo City and Ft Hood got their own wins over McAllen and Corpus Christi respectively, keeping the race tight between second and third, while McAllen and Corpus both hunt for their first win of the season. Their next chance will be on March 2nd as McAllen hosts San Antonio and Corpus travels to Alamo City.
Little Rock also extended their lead at number one with a 26-13 win over OKC Tribe at home on February 10th. It was a team effort with the backline particularly impressive on the day, scoring three of the four tries and winger Ben Holmes adding the extras. On the 24th the Crusaders host Little Rock while Alliance and OKC Tribe square off on back to back weekends, alternating hosts. The next Weekend in Review may have a very different looking table, only time will tell.
A brilliant match between Shreveport and the Houston Arrows was everything you wanted in a top of the table clash on February 17th. Shreveport scored two minutes in thanks to center Cole Robbins; the Arrows crept back with a penalty at 10’, but then Shreveport again sent a player over the try line to extend their lead two minutes later. At half time, it was clear that Shreveport had the upper hand, but the Arrows surged back in an impressive comeback effort. It was a last minute try by Arrows substitute Jay Arnold that secured the win for the Arrows 34-31. This brings the Arrows to the top of the table as Shreveport drops to second. Galveston were also able to climb in the standings thanks to a win on the road over Bay Area, bringing them to third and hopeful for a shot at the postseason. We don’t have to wait long for the Arrows/Shreveport rematch as the two go head to head again on March 2nd, this time in Houston. Check back then for a possibly new shake-up in the standings.
Men's D4
Thrilling news from the DFW area as Denton clocked their first win of the season over second-place Dallas RFC. Despite a rush of scoring in the second half from Dallas (including three tries by number 8 John O’Shaughnessy), Denton held on for the eventual one-point win, final score 30-29. They will try to make this win into a streak on the 24th when they host Fort Worth, while Las Colinas hosts number one powerhouse Collin County who have yet to lose a match. On March 2nd, Fort Worth host the Dallas RFC, who are still second in the standings.
No new results to update from the South region, but more games have been added to the calendar! This weekend The Woodlands hosts HURT in a thrilling match-up of the undefeated teams, and then in March HARC looks for their first win against The Woodlands.
Note to reader: All data is gathered from team-entered match reports on RugbyXplorer, all information is up to date at time of posting. If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, please check with your team admin and if issues persist let me know at kat@texasrugbyunion.com.
All other commentary is unbiased and for fun.