In a match of Texas rugby giants, the St. Thomas varsity rugby team saw defeat in the opening game of their 2025 campaign. With lots of pressure entering the game, the team is disappointed to start their season in such a fashion, but many remain highly confident with a New Orleans Jesuit rematch from the playoffs last season on the horizon.
“We started off really slow, and that hurt us a lot,” Mathew Michael ‘25 said. “Lots of soaking tackles and soft running really turned down the energy after a good warmup. The team wasn’t looking too hot, but we made it to the half only down 2 or 3 scores.”
The Eagles had seen considerable success at their two previous preseason tournaments, with a 5-1 record at Ruggapalooza and an undefeated record at the Pius Multi-Team Scrimmage. Ruggapalooza, an annual event hosted by the Houston Sabercats to promote local grassroots rugby and to help teams prepare for the upcoming spring season with live tackle scrimmages, was the first opportunity for the team to really see what it was capable of.
“We started out against Woodlands, which is a club team and who usually competes in the national championship bracket, and so we didn’t feel so hot,” Jack Reid ‘25 said. But once we moved past them, our offense started clicking, and we breezed by our next 2 games. On defense, we’ve got some guys like Patrick Murphy and Jackson Saunders who can really hit, so we’ve been able to take advantage of some fast turnovers and keep the ball in our hands.”
The scrimmage experience didn’t seem to show up till the second half, but when it did, the Eagles seemed willing to listen, putting up an impressive show on defense and beginning to finally show life on the offensive side. Lots of close chances to score were missed, but the team remained in high spirits, fighting until the very end.
As a reward for their efforts, the Eagles scored a try on the last play, cutting the final tally to 29-10. While this result is certainly not what the team set out to get, the fight of the defense and the simple yet effective offense is sure to reap benefits later on in the season.
