Life Stays Undefeated in Conference Play with Win Over Arkansas St.
Men's Rugby / 03.12.18
In the thick of D1A Mid-South Conference play, LIFE went on the road to take on Arkansas State in Jonesboro, AR. Despite a good back and forth contest in stretches of the match, LIFE ran away with a 54-3 victory.
The Running Eagles got things going through an early break by Maciu Koroi who found Ryan Rees for the opening try 9 minutes in. Also dotting down in the first half were Harley Wheeler, George Phelan and Jamie Berrisford, while Duncan Van Schalkwyk added a pair of conversations and two penalties.
"The attack did well," said Head Coach Colton Cariaga, with Phelan leading all try scorers with three on the day. Van Schalkwyk added two tries of his own to finish with a total of 24 points.
"The guys played the territory and did a good job of mixing things up," added Cariaga. "They found space and did well in support to get the offload and finish. We have spent some good time lately working our attack in the opposition 22, utilizing our forwards to keep the interior defense in check. The guys are buying into it and we got some points out of those opportunities."
On the other side of the ball, Arkansas State was able to find space but ultimately could not convert. "We showed some guts again this week in scramble defense to keep them from crossing our line" said Cariaga. "We made things hard, however, by putting ourselves in those positions. "First and foremost, our tackles need to stick. But we also have to maintain our line integrity and that's just teamwork and discipline." Still, the Red Wolves' lone points came in the form of a penalty kick just in front of the posts in the opening minute of the second half.
"We'll be looking to put in a big effort in training this week as we zero in our plan and personnel decisions that will take us into this weekend and beyond. Every day matters and it's a program wide effort."
Next up LIFE will travel to take on Davenport University on March 17th in Caledonia, MI.
