The University of North Texas won all three games in the Southwestern Rugby Conference (SWC) pre-season tournament Saturday.
The event was more of a practice run for all six teams involved, with liberal use of squads to get maximum playing time for everyone. Each team played two 40-minute pool games, and then a 40-minute final - #1 v #1, #2 v #2, and #3 v #3. North Texas looked strong in a shutout of Stephen F. Austin and a defeat of Texas State in Group 2.
Meanwhile in Group 1, Texas A&M beat Houston and Rice fairly comfortably. In the final game, UNT edged A&M 5-3.
Texas State beat University of Houston 19-14 to take third, while Stephen F. Austin defeated hosts Rice 40-5 for 5th.
The story of the tournament might well be the improved results for Houston. Yes they ended up 1-2, but they lost to A&M 24-12, not a rout by any means, and defeated Rice. Their loss to Texas State was also close.
Group 1: Rice, UH, A&M
Group 2: TXST, UNT, SFA
UH 17 Rice 5
TXST 7 SFA 5
A&M 24 UH 12
UNT 22 SFA 0
A&M 24 Rice 0
UNT 26 TXST 15
#3: SFA 40 Rice 5
#2: TXST 19 UH 14
#1 UNT 5 A&M 3
