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By Pat Clifton
(A&M now looks to national round of 16, where they could have a rematch with Utah. Ed Hagerty photo)
For the third time in four weeks, Texas A&M and LSU played a pivotal rugby match - the first two deciding the top seed for the West playoffs, and the latest one deciding the Western champion. And for the second time in three weeks, The Aggies narrowly prevailed in Baton Rouge, winning 20-14.
“It was tough, it was tight and nerve racking to say the least,” said A&M coach Craig Coates, whose team sacrificed a late try in the second half but held on for the win. “We really had to hang on by the skin of our teeth at the end and just make our tackles to hold on, because they were coming back with a vengeance for sure.”
A&M gained their advantage due in large to a superior pack. “We had them under pressure in the scrum. so that gave us a good platform to attack from. On our own ball, we were good. We won our own scrums, lineouts and we were able to put a bit of pressure on their scrum and then just held on,” said Coates.
“We missed a lot of tackles in the first half and still missed some in the second half, but we made enough to win the game. They were pretty fired up and they came at us pretty hard; it was exciting.
“I think we’re a little bit stronger in the set piece, a little bit bigger, little bit taller, so we had enough confidence (from the previous meetings) that we could get enough ball to score our points, and then the main thing was to limit our mistakes in the wrong parts of the field and to play good defense. Our defense wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, but it was good enough.”
With the win A&M earns the West’s top seed in the national tournament, and consequently, a likely meeting with #5 Utah, hardly a prize when you consider their recent win over defending champs and third-ranked BYU.
“Hopefully, since we’ve played them before, at least we know what they have, and they’re not super human, but they’re a good rugby team, so we’ll have to be on top of our game to even compete,” said Coates.
The Utes headline a four-team playoff for the Pacific Coast’s fourth bid into the national playoffs that also includes Central Washington, Washington and Sacramento State.
“They beat us pretty handily,” said Coates of Utah, “so either one of those teams that comes out it’s going to be a pretty big challenge for sure.”
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