Texas A&M Women’s Rugby’s Maroon side took down the White side 15-5 in a competitive intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, Oct. 18, at Penberthy Rec Sports Complex.
Originally scheduled as a matchup against Southern Nazarene, coach Blair McClure said he chose two scrimmages instead to experiment with lineups ahead of the upcoming National Collegiate Rugby Lonestar Conference championship game.
“In this scrimmage, it was more to see how different players worked with others, so we can get different pictures when we select for our state championship game against UT in three weeks,” McClure said.
In a competitive Game 2, the Maroon side leaned on a hat trick of tries by junior communication prop Nour Hage. The front-row forward scored three times, tallying all of the Maroon side’s points after the White side took an early 5-0 lead on a breakaway try in the first half.
From there it was all Hage, who got her first try of the day off a spin move near the halfway line for a breakaway. Caught just short of the goal line, Hage reached out on the ground to get the ball beyond the try line and in the grass to tie the match at 5-5.
“[I saw] space honestly — just like a gap between the two players in front of me, and kind of just an opportunity that I took,” Hage said.
Hage got her second try of the day off the back of a fake pass about 25 yards from the goal line. In another extended reach, Hage pushed the lead to 10-5 for the Maroon side heading into halftime.
Near the end of a back-and-forth scoreless second half, Hage got her third and final try to end the match and complete the hat trick. It was deja vu for the fans as Hage executed another fake pass to catch multiple midfield defenders off guard. She scored a try on a breakaway to end the match 15-5 for a Maroon side victory.
“[The fake pass is] kind of my go-to, and it’s 50-50,” Hage said. “If they do [fall for the fake], I just take that gap that I created and just go for it. Again, it’s all about that space.”
McClure explained that he would emphasize physicality in practice as the regular season nears the end.
“[We will work on] getting our passes down — can’t play rugby without quick, crisp passes —that are accurate, getting to our teammates early so they can do something with the ball,” McClure said. “The other thing is on defense and offense, when carrying the ball or making a tackle, coming up to make that impact into that collision — being dominant in that zone.”
With a 0-3 record in Lonestar competition, A&M will face UTSA in San Antonio on Saturday, Oct. 25, to close out regular-season action.
