Three games, at the moment anyway, look to be on the slate in men's college rugby this weekend; let's keep the fingers crossed they can play them.

First up is the rematch between Arkansas State and Lindenwood. ASU has to feel like they didn't capitalize on the pressure they built a month ago. So have they been able to improve in training since then? Quite possibly.

Lindenwood Pulls Away From Arkansas State In 2021 Opener

Lindenwood has been trying to rotate players and work to get the same performance from each group. Head Coach Josh Macy said he has a very deep roster, so he's asking a lot of all his players.

"We don't have a lot of second-side matches so we're trying to push guys up," he said. "We have a really competitive training environment and we do that with a ton of contact in matches. But that also means we don't play guys who are hurt. We're harping on taking the shortest path to victory. What that means is it doesn't matter if you can do the fancy stuff if at the end of it you lose the ball. And at the same time you don't get a lot of points just by accruing a ton of phases."

Against ASU Lindenwood bashed their heads against the wall for a while, and Macy wants to avoid that.

Also on the slate is Iowa Central at Davenport. Last week's opener for Davenport had to be postponed but this game is still on as far as we know. This is a massive game for Iowa Central CC as they look for a competitive place.

"Like all of us in the Midwest, the spring can be a struggle," said Iowa Central Head Coach Brent Nelson. "Even being indoors can make things difficult. The boys have been working hard and I think we'll put a really good 23 out there versus Davenport."

As always Iowa Central has a lot of freshmen, and Nelson will be interested to see how they do against a well-run team like Davenport.

"We have some strong leaders on this team," Nelson said. "We're co;unting on them to lead by example and stick to what we do best during momentum changes."

RMA Coach Talk: Brent Nelson 

And finally there's Wheeling University at Alderson Broaddus. Wheeling is one of the first of the new modern wave of school-supported college teams, while Alderson Broaddus is one of the newer ones. Under Head Coach Michael Geibel Wheeling is rebuilding nicely, while fellow West Virginian group the Battlers is still young and working toward a very challenging, if short, season. 

The game will be live here starting 11:50AM ET>> 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re harping on taking the shortest path to victory

doesn’t matter if you can do fancy stuff if you lose the ball

you don’t get a lot of points by accruing a ton of phases

 

phases per possession

 

passes per phase

 

we use our whole bench every game

6-2 split

really deep roster

really competitive training environment

we do it with a ton of contact in matches

not having guys play hurt …

 

having guys who can play mutliple positions helps

 

 

We’ve been everyone’s first half

Protocols good

everybody else is a little slower to come online or had weather