Top of Rugby East at Stake in Annapolis
Top of Rugby East at Stake in Annapolis
The Rugby East conference title may well be decided this coming weekend.
Both Life University and the US Naval Academy are 4-0, and they play each other in Annapolis on Saturday.
These are teams that have been winning, and in fact winning well, for the most part. Not that it's been perfect.
"We definitely need to work on our lineout," said scrumhalf Michael Strehle after Navy's win over Walsh last week. "That's definitely one thing that'll be a focus this week going into Life. We trust our boys and we're going to keep running the game with effort and tempo; that's what fuels us."
Navy has been able to secure bonus-point victories over Walsh, Penn State, St. Bonaventure, and Mount St. Mary's. Each time they finish strong, pouring in tries in the final 10-20 minutes. DOR Gavin Hickie points to his team's depth, and that is part of it. Part of it also is Roanin Kriger's outstanding boot, which makes teams think twice about committing penalties inside their half. And part of it is that Navy is so strong in contact that they wear players down. Even in the Rugby East, where every game is a tough one, eventually the Midshipmen can force a breakdown in a defensive wall.
"We just want to start strong, start physical, maul right off the bat, show our power in the scrum, and just hit 'em, every play," added Navy lock Ed Soeder.
Life University had that one hiccup, a game against Mount St. Mary's that they could easily have lost, but pulled out 23-21. After that match DOR Blake Bradford made a few changes and the results are pretty clear: 55-15 over a very touch Mary Washington and 67-17 over Belmont Abbey.
Life is good at putting their foot on the next and pressing harder. They can pull away late, but in the last two matches they haven't had to. Bradley Crane has been setting up his attackers nicely, their back row of Wesley Piggins, Seth Kramlich, and Logan Ballinger is aggressive and works hard.
What they do very well is they use their power runners to thump it up the middle, and then (snap your fingers) like that when they get quick ball they stretch it. That could be a snip from their scrumhalf Bautista Aurajo, or a short ball to fullback Nahuel Wingford, or quick hands through forward pods or behind them with speedier backs.
It's a pretty clinical approach and Navy will have to work hard to contain it.
How even will this be? We can look at the one common opponent for these two teams. On September 21 Life beat Walsh 41-13. On October 12 Navy beat the same Walsh Cavaliers 40-11. Seems like it might be close.
Life is at Navy on Saturday with kickoff at 11AM.