The D1A Red River Collegiate Rugby Conference is coming April 1st and should host some great college rugby match-ups. The inaugural Canterbury North America Red River Collegiate Rugby Championships will be held at Huns Field in Austin, TX. Gift-Time Rugby Network will be broadcasting the championship live.
University of Oklahoma will have a matchup against Texas A&M this Saturday, April 1st at 1 PM. The full Red River Collegiate Schedule is on D1A College Rugby site under Red River. Oklahoma has not faced off against Texas A&M this season but are ready for the challenge to take the 3rd place match.
The Sooners retained their #2 North division seed after their loss to Baylor. It was a hard-fought battle but Baylor came out with the win in the end. Two other tough losses in the Sooner schedule came from a very close match with University of Arkansas and an unfortunate loss to Texas Tech. Come this weekend, though, the boys are ready to play. Logan Ronan, a sophomore flanker, said the one word to describe the team would be Hardworking.
In preparation for the match with Texas A&M the team has indeed been working hard in training. A big help to the program has been the addition of coach Mere Baker, a former New Zealand Women’s 7’s player and professional rugby consultant. Coach Neubauer brought Baker to the program and she has helped the team develop their skills even further. Logan commented on Baker’s help saying, “the basics of the game for our team as a whole are getting better.” He followed up with “we just need to focus and have the right mindset going into every game”.
However, coaching hasn’t been the only reason Oklahoma is hungry for the win. “We really care about each other as a team, and we’ve improved because of the competitiveness we have with each other that translates on the pitch come match time.” In preparation for Saturday, Logan said the team needs to focus on retaining the ball and setting a strong defensive effort to face the Aggies.
The Second XV Championship, which will face-off two second side squads, will also be between Oklahoma and Texas A&M. That match will happen earlier in the day at 11 AM.
Both of these coming matches with Texas A&M will be great competition, with both teams ready to finish the season strong.
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