Friday Night Rugby makes its Lone Star State debut in week five, as Texas and Texas A&M battle it out Friday in Austin, TX. The Longhorns (1-1) opened their season with a three-score win over LSU before falling to varsity Southern Nazarene, while the Aggies (0-2) are still searching for their first win of the season.
Texas is coached by alums Kris Karsten and Sarah “Biggie” Dickerson, who expect high skill loads from their athletes. They both have extensive playing and coaching resumes, including with the two-time NCR All-Star 7s Champion Lonestar Armadillos. The Longhorns enter the week at No. 20, cracking the rankings for the first time this season.
Texas A&M is coached by alum Rebecca “Chewie” Carcano, who has plenty of big-match experience, including at the 2022 Lonestar Bowl and coaching on the championship Armadillos staff with Karsten and Dickerson.
The Aggies dominated this rivalry game last year, winning 96-5 in College Station. Graduating a big class in the spring and facing the ranked Longhorns, A&M may well be the underdog Friday in Austin.
Texas’ strength is in its numbers, which continue to grow every year. The Longhorns hit record highs at practice this fall, thanks in large part to the USA’s women winning bronze at the Paris Olympics.
“We’ve had the excellent problem this year of having a really large player pool, so for this and our LSU game, we had to make 11 cuts to make the 23-player roster, which is an excellent problem to have,” said Karsten.
“It’s been massive numbers with the Olympics. We’ve had several players tell us they found out from Ilona Maher, and that’s why they joined.”
Texas is led by senior captain Bella Ranklin at flyhalf and inside center Ollie Encarnacion. Rankin is a two-time All-Star champion with Lone Star, and she leads the Longhorn attack, while Encarnacion organizes the defense. Texas also has a pair of sophomore standouts in No. 8 Nia Barkum, who can play anywhere in the pack, and outside center Madison Chapman.
A&M boasts a pair of returning conference All-Stars in fullback Isis Davis and center Genevieve Pace. Pace is built like a No. 8, but runs like a back and is an emotional leader. Davis is lightning quick and a big tackler.
“They’re going to come in pretty hungry for it,” said Karsten, of the Aggies, “but I told our players we have to just be hungrier.”
Stream this match live for free on The Rugby Network.
