Lion Man - A Book Review

British and Irish Lions legend Ian McGeechan's new book Lion Man: The Autobiography is an exciting insight into the mind of one of rugby's legendary coaches. McGeechan renowned as a Lion's player and coach details his experiences and explains what makes the Lions such a special enterprise. His insiders approach takes the reader into the locker room with some of the great Lion's teams of our era.

McGeechan began his international career with Scotland, playing flyhalf and center while winning 32 caps. He also made 30 appearances for the Lions and was a integral member of the 1974 team that is considered by many to be the best of all time. His coaching career included stops at Northhampton, London Wasps, and Scotland (winning the Grand Slam over in England in 1990). However, he is most famous for his four stints as head coach of the British and Irish Lions (no other coach has had more than one). He won two of the series and was unlucky not to have won the 2009 series in South Africa. His playing and coaching career makes McGeechan a living legend in rugby.

This is an exciting book and is well-written, although at times a bit redundant. Perhaps the only disappointment (especially for coaches trying to glean coaching secrets) is that McGeechan spends very little time discussing coaching technique. However, this is more than made up for by the fascinating and frank discussion of the Lions experience and future. This is a must read for coaches and anyone interested in understanding the culture of the Lions and the insights of the Northern Hemisphere's greatest coach.

All-Americans

Former St. Thomas Eagles Andres Diaz, Conor Mills, and Paul Rogers were named to the U20 USA National team (Junior All-Americans) and played in the US Collegiate All-Star tournament held in Denver this June. The All-Americans played against the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate All-Stars and New England All-Stars during the tournament, in which the went 1-1. A thrill for STH fans occured when Mills matched up at flyhalf against former teammate Alex Reeves (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), who was playing for the New England side. The U20s finished their assembly against the University of Cardiff (Wales - last year's runner-up in Great Britain's collegiate championships). Diaz and Mills are teammates at Texas A&M University and Paul Rogers plays for Louisiana State University. "This is very exciting for STH rugby," said STH head coach Jim Wolfinger, "to have so many former players playing at such a high level is a thrill and testament to the hard work they put in while on campus." "We could not be more proud of our guys and wish them continued success."

Eagle Ruggers Represent

St. Thomas rugby was well-represented during the Rocky Mountain Challenge Cup in June. The Rocky Mt. Challenge Cup is the premier all-star rugby event (age-grade) in the United States and is a selection vehicle for national team selection. Dixon Garnett, Sebastian Gracia, and John Boudreaux were named to the Texas U17 all-star team. Ryan Sullivan, Paul Rogers (LSU), Will Gutkowski, Conor Mills (TAMU), and Kingsley McGowan were selected to the Texas U19 squad that won the Rocky Mt. Challenge with a thrilling 7-3 victory over defending champion Utah. The U19 squad defeated Minnesota 33-22, Arizona 41-0, and Wisconsin 29-10 on their way to the final. McGowan scored the winning try in the championship match off a thrilling run through the Utah defense. The Texas defense was forced to hold Utah during a five minute goal line stand at the end of the match to secure the victory. Conor Mills and Paul Rogers were both named to the All-Tournament team.

Eagle Scrum in Action

This short video clip is a look at the varsity team's scrum in action - notice the quickness to the engagement and the power.

Back on Track

The STH Eagles traveled to Stony Point for a key early season match on Saturday and won by the narrowest of margins -29-26. St. Thomas was trying to recover from last week's 23-8 loss to Austin Westlake and needed a win to regain momentum. The Tigers proved to be physically tough and skilled opponents and gave the Eagles everything they could handle.

The Eagles dominated the Tigers the last two seasons, winning 65-0, and 57-0, but the Tigers were much improved and under the guidance of head coach Jesse Adams were 2-0 going into their rematch with St. Thomas. Despite admonishments not to take Stony Point lightly, the Eagles seemed to play much of the match in a mental haze, believing that this year's game would be an automatic replay of the previous two.

The Eagles started the match in style with Dixon Garnett scoring a try in the first minute and a half of the game. They scored again off a long run by Will Gutkowski (4:33) and appeared to be on their way to another lopsided victory, but the Tigers were not willing to lay down nor give up the fight. They scored two tries of their own and led at halftime 14-12.

Stony Point pushed their lead to 21-12 early in the second half, before Conor O'Brien scored(53:44), bringing the Eagles to within two points -21-19. The Tigers answered with another try three minutes later and St. Thomas appeared to be in real danger with the score 26-19. The last 15 minutes of the game were all Eagles though, as John Boudreaux scored a brilliant try (61:00) when he stole the ball from the opposition scrumhalf near the goaline - diving over for the score. The conversion kick was critical and Sebastian Gracia hit a difficult 25 meter kick from the sideline to even the score at 26-26.

The Eagles pushed into Tiger territory with three minutes remaining. After as series of line-breaks, Stony Point was penalized for diving over the top. Gracia calmly slotted the penalty kick (67:32) giving the Eagles a 29-26 lead. They then played stifling defense for the last minute and a half to secure the comeback win.

This was a critical win for the Eagles, who did not seem fully recovered from the loss to Westlake. It was also an indication of the how tough the road to the state championship will be for St. Thomas. The competitive level of the league has risen dramatically and there are no easy wins for any team. St. Thomas travels to Dallas Jesuit next weekend to defend its Bishop Cup title against the Rangers. The season is off to an interesting and exciting start!

Eagles Rugby Video Channel

Rugby Fans,
Check out the Eagles Rugby Channel and get the latest highlights, interviews, and news from the world of Eagles Varsity XV Rugby.

http://www.youtube.com/sthseaglesrugby

Eagles Hit Hurdle

The Eagles Varsity XV fell to a powerful Austin Westlake side 23-8, on Friday night. This was the first regular season loss for STH in over two years. The Eagles beat Westlake in two hard-fought wins last season on their way to a second state title, but the Chaparrals were not to be denied this time. Westlake has a veteran team which returned all but two starters from last season's semi-final squad and going into the season had to be considered favorites for post-season honors.

St. Thomas led at halftime 8-6 on the back of a Sebastian Gracia penalty kick and a Logan Stryk try, but were unable to mount any offense in the second half. Westlake managed two tries and another penalty in the second stanza.

The game was an extremely physical affair with both sides going toe to toe at the breakdowns and in the tackle zone. Westlake played very well, but the Eagles took themselves out of the game with numerous penalties throughout the second half. St. Thomas had a difficult time mounting any offense as the backs played flat and did not get any momentum when the hit the tackle zone. The aggressive Chaparral backs took full advantage of these factors and delivered some punishing blows which brought the Eagle offense to a standstill.

While the loss was a bitter pill for the Eagles and their fans to swallow, solace was taken in the fact that they had a number of opportunities to gain a victory. The final scoreline flattered the Chaparrals as they put the last score on the board with less than 2 minutes remaining in the match. Part of the growth process for the young and relatively inexperienced Eagle squad will be finding the ability to recovery quickly from mistakes and minimize the penalty count. While the loss was painful it is clear that the Eagles will grow from the lessons learned from their encounter with a tough and skilled Westlake side. The Eagles face the Stony Point Tigers this Saturday in an intriguing matchup. Stony Point is currently 2-0 and looks to give the Eagles another physical contest.