The Allied Rugby Conference (ARC) has released a Fall 2013 7s season schedule. The ARC Fall 7s Series is the first series of tournaments in which the series champion - determined by cumulative points based on their finish in all three tournaments - is granted an automatic bid to the 2013 USA Rugby College 7s National Championships. The conference returns five teams to vie for this honor: Baylor, Oklahoma, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. Each team looks poised to improve its respective level of play from last year's series.
The tournaments will be all the more challenging as the ARC will be hosting non-conference teams at each. Additionally, solid showings at any of these tournaments by the non-conference teams will boost their chances of gaining an at-large bid to the championships.
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OU pulling away from UT in 2012 ARC 7s Series |
The third and final ARC qualifier will expand the pools to four teams each as Texas, Texas Christian, and the University of North Texas join the fray at Gateway Park in Ft. Worth on October 19. After this tournament's final, the Allied Rugby Conference will award the 7s Championship to the overall points leader.
Texas A&M
The Aggies graduated seven starters last Spring. Six of those started for the A&M 7s team that played at the 2012 College 7s Nationals. To say that this might be a rebuilding year for A&M might be accurate, but Coach Brett Mills looks forward to testing some solid players from the XVs season. As 7s forwards, loose forward Chris Frazier (Team Captain) and lock Phillip Hanson bring plenty of experience. Frazier is wily in traffic and has blistering pace. Hanson may lack pace, but he makes up for it with work rate and he has been playing 7s all summer. In the backs, A&M returns center J.D. Smiley and loose forward/wing Andrew Dowlearn. Smiley lit up the mid-field in XVs with an uncanny ability to slip tackles and burst away. Dowlearn played in the back row coming in as a reserve in every match for the Aggies, but he showed pace and ball-savvy against Baylor scoring a breakaway try after scooping up a bobbled pass. Mills put the youngster in at wing against Tech and he proved his mettle there by backing himself for a 60 meter try. Smiley and Dowlearn both show a love of exploiting an ounce of space. Finally, scrumhalf Matt Theodore and loose forward Alex Demblon help to round out the Aggie experience. Theodore proved the slippery eel in much of the Spring 2013 season until an ankle injury sidelined him against Air Force. Demblon is the quiet type with a phenomenal workrate. Both players are quick to the breakdowns and know their roles at each without hesitation.
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
The Sooners have a new coach and a fired-up attitude. Third place in the 2012 ARC 7s Series was NOT what they planned and NOT what they expected of themselves. Coach Jason Horowitz brings a wealth of representative side coaching experience to Norman, OK and he thinks, "the experience playing on (the ARC 7s Series) against some tough opposition will prove to be a strong platform to grow the program." A couple of Oklahoma ruggers spent their summer honing their 7s skills with the Denver Barbos and the Dallas Quins, respectively. Captains Bobby Impson and Michael Al-Jiboori plan to translate that experience into 7s success. Speedster Al-Jiboori is especially focused as he has formally laid down the gauntlet by stating, "this year we WILL be taken seriously." Considering that only four starting Sooners return from last year, winning the series may be a tall order. However, attitude is everything and OU seems to be fully stocked!
Sam Houston State
Baylor
Last season was Baylor's first year of playing 7s and some of the scorelines showed just that. Coach Josh Neff is looking forward to bringing in 4-6 freshmen from HS rugby programs around the country to bolster a team that lost five starters to graduation. Neff intends to look to his leaders, prop Khoby Moore and utility back Stormy Weiss, to bring rugby nous and experience to his 7s team. Moore is a strong and agile forward who will do the grunt work. Weiss is the playmaker who grew as an on-field leader last season to become team captain. Additionally, second-year player Vincente Chavez on the wing had "his rugby moment" last year and turned into a real threat on the corners. With solid coaching, player retention and a great attitude, the Bears look to play pattern and space to attack aggressively and catch unawares those that dare overlook them.
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