Story by Fil Keuppens about the Texas All Stars squad, predominantly populated Dallas Reds coaches and players, and their trip to Las Vegas. Read the article on ThisIsTexasRugby.com
On Feb 13, 2015, 25 Rugby Players, representing 11 Men’s Clubs including five Division 1 Clubs, three Division 2 Clubs and three Division 3 Clubs descended on Las Vegas to take on the lofty goal of competing in 2 select side matches in one day.
The First match kicked off at 8 AM against the Misfits touring side. Though the Misfits showed tenacity in the set pieces and never backed down, the explosive attacking pattern implemented by the TX coaching staff was too much to handle in the end. The TRU All-Stars won this match handily 64-5.
With a short break, the men from Texas then took on the California Pelicans All-star team. Despite being light on numbers and having already played 80 minutes of rugby (California only played one match on the day), the TRU represented well, losing by a single unconverted try in the end; final score 36-41 in favor of California.
Though the final score-line of the match was not the desired end result, the match drew the attention of quite a few fans including USA Eagles Head Coach Mike Tolkin and USA Eagles Forwards Coach Justin Fitzpatrick who were on hand for the entirety of the second match in order to evaluate players and determine if any players from the TRU or NorCal should be given the opportunity to compete for national team honors. Special thanks go to Gary Kennedy and Red Ball Oxygen for their support as well as the TRU and the clubs that supported the growth of representative rugby.
Led by Dallas coaches Dean Robinson, Filip Keuppens, Bruce McGregor, Jon Jeffries and Assistant Manager Ann Keuppens.
The actual Dallas Reds who represented Texas were Phil Bolton, Spencer Cameron, Sal Demartino, Rashad Harbor, Jonny Heron, Mike Kenealy, Jordan Macey, Jon Moore, Dale Russ, Connor Trathen, Matt Upton, Chris Hopkins.