For more than 40 years, the battle for rugby supremacy in Austin, Texas, has belonged to the Austin Blacks.

But if their 85th all-time meeting with the crosstown Austin Huns was any indication on Saturday, the balance of power may be shifting in the city.

The Huns pounded the two-time national runner-up Blacks with seven tries to notch a 45-14 win on their home field. The victory was the Huns' first ever against the Blacks in a Division I match in the teams' 20-year series.

After overhauling their coaching staff in the offseason and adding former USA Eagles captain Todd Clever to a management position, the new-look Huns came out firing on all cylinders. Less than four minutes in, Brian Welborn broke through for the Huns and scored off of a strong scrum about five meters from the try zone.


The Huns never relinquished their early lead and stifled the Blacks' attack for much of the first half. The visitors' only points of the opening frame came three minutes before halftime to cut the deficit to 12-7. While the Blacks seemed to have found some inspiration entering the second half, the Huns quickly snuffed it out when Timothee Guillimin scored off a dummy pass to give his side a 12-point lead.

From that point on, the Huns controlled the game and added four more tries to extend their decisive margin. Huns captain Lomani Tongotongo capped the historic win by scoring the final points of the game after running into the try zone untouched.

"I've scored three tries off of that same play, so I was pretty confident that I would score again when we called it," Tongotongo told FloRugby after the game. "When the hole opened up, I was cheesing from ear to ear."

The dominant performance not only broke the Huns' long losing skid to their rivals, but it also put them in sole possession of first place in the Red River Rugby Conference (RRRC). Undefeated in conference play, the Huns (3-0) have a four-point lead in the standings over Dallas Rugby (2-1, 11 points) and the Blacks (2-1, 10 points).

The Huns will look to continue their impressive start to the season on Saturday, Feb. 25, against an elite Glendale Raptors team at Infinity Park in Denver.