The University of Houston goes into the Southwest Rugby Conference 7s championships as the #1 seed after going 10-1 in the previous two tournaments.

In the opening tournament April 2, Houston defeated Texas State 38-0, Texas Tech 12-7, North Texas 31-7, North Texas Bs 31-12, and Sam Houston 24-12 in going 5-0.

This past weekend, the Cougars went 5-1, beating Rice 45-10, North Texas Bs 31-10, Texas State 17-12, Texas State Bs 24-12, and North Texas 26-7. The only blemish was a 31-19 loss to Texas Tech. Tech was 4-1 and is clearly another team to watch, as is North Texas (4-1 on the day).

For Houston Coach Samuel Enari, the results are gratifying, but only a step toward winning the conference title.

“All of our good performances don't mean anything if we can't win on the 23rd at the conference championships,” said Enari. 

Blessed with a relatively deep bench, Houston leans on sweeper and captain Ryan Becker to set the tone for the team. The fittest and grittiest player, Becker has complemented nicely by 6-7 forward Brett Funderburk, a big (OK we said that already), athletic prop with good speed and deft hands who can break tackles and outrun backs. Funderburk is, as you can imagine, dominant on restarts.

Abraham Blanco is another big man who can move around the field, while rookie Kyle Hill, said Enari, brings an X-factor with his athleticism. Freshman Lesedi Manthata is a smart playmaker and sets up his teammates nicely.

Houston will take the #1 seed into the SWC Championships, with North Texas (8-2), and Texas Tech (7-3) #2 and #3. But a place in the USA Rugby DI 7s Championships goes to the winner on April 23 - no guarantees for the rest.