GRR on X  GRR on Facebook GRR in Instagram GRR Vimeo Library GRR on YouTube RuggaMatrix America Podcasts Support GRR on Patreon

Mid-South Games to Answer Some Early Questions

irish rugby tours

Mid-South Games to Answer Some Early Questions

This is Life v Davenport from a year ago. And while Life and Davenport play this weekend, they don't play each other. We wanted to use this photo because it shows both teams and, of course, with the snow it also shows you why Davenport always has to be on the road in February and March. Steven Zomberg photo.

The Mid-South Conference is fully underway this weekend as four teams are in action.

Lindenwood is at Life and Davenport is at Clemson.

Life and Lindenwood are both coming off some confidence-boosting results.

After losing a game to Central Washington, Lindenwood enjoyed a two-game sweep of Colorado and Air Force in the Rocky Mountains. The Lions have a pretty snappy backline, and knowhow to keep the tries coming, but against Life it will be a tougher grind, and their tight five will certainly have some work to do.

Life is coming off a 57-0 defeat of Arkansas State, a game that was surprising because of the big margin of victory. Coach Colton Cariaga tried to downplay the significance of the score, but 57-0 is 57-0.

“We had a bunch of good individual moments,” said Cariaga. “Guys were winning some one-on-one matchups at different spots. We did do well off scrums and set piece attacks, and our defense got off the line well. So, yeah it was a good game, but we weren’t error-free on either side of the ball.

Life, too, has some handy players in the backline, but it was players like Mike Islava who showed well last week. Islava just made tackles, and took care of the dirty work. 

But the biggest assist for Life may well have been their men’s team. While the Running Eagles have not played any games between November and Arkansas State, they have been able to train with the Life men’s team.

“We’ve had some battles with them,” said Cariaga. “That’s a great resource for us.”

Davenport has been somewhat quiet, too - a function of their being in Michigan. They will visit a Clemson that has already defeated South Carolina and lost to Navy in a game that was a mixture of front-line players and B-siders.

Clemson Head Coach Steve Lynch says he likes the team culture he is developing, but he also knows this spring will be a massive challenge. Wth Dominique Bailey,  Andrew Boatright, Thomas Cheslek, Mike Lau, and Brady Gent they’ve got some talent, but the Panthers haven’t played since beating University of Notre Dame 27-15 on November 3. They might be a shade undercooked.

It's a tough pick, but perhaps you'd have to go with the Clemson's superior spring game time and playing at home over Davenport, but Davenport continues to handle tough situations. Life, right now, is on a high and is probably favored over Lindenwood.