Despite losing an early cross-division game with Dayton, Western Michigan is in position to take the lead in the Mid-American Conference North with a victory over Bowling Green.

Western’s recent results - 44-0 over Northern Illinois last weekend, and 61-22 over Ball State the week before - vaulted them into #48 in the Goff Rugby Report Men’s DI rankings, but they are still far behind Bowling Green, who are #23, although both are 2-0 in games that count toward the standings.

WMU Head Coach Mark Allen just wants to put in a good performance.

“We’re getting better every game,” said Allen. “We had a really good week of practice, and while we’re pretty young, we have a pretty athletic squad and I think we’re more fit than we were at this point last year.”

WMU isn’t flashy and works the rucks to maintain ball possession. That’s their MO and it will have to be precise to keep BGSU away from the tryline.

“The kids all give a great effort,” said Allen. “Our defense still needs to improve but we do play good defense.”

No. 8 and captain Tom Kacor has been Western’s best player, and he scored two tries last week against NIU, as did center Anthony Wrona, who partners nicely with Eric Williams in the midfield. The big news for WMU is that former Zimbabwe U20 player Simba Chirara is back from injury and will slot in nicely in the backline.

Bowling Green comes into the game rested up as they had no game last week. The week before they were paced by three tries from mobile hooker Phil Bryant in a 67-7 defeat of Central Michigan. Scurmhalf Mitch Sora also scored three. They are led by Al Viancourt at lock, who seems to be a big part of their go-forward, and Mike Powell, who is kicking well.

It’s a big weekend in the MAC South, also, as 2-0 Miami hosts 2-1 Cincinnati. For Miami this is a key game to position themselves at the top. The other 2-0 team, Dayton, hosts 0-2 Ohio in a game where they are favored. Also on the slate in the North is Ball State (0-3) at Northern Illinois (0-2).