Only two more weeks remain until the American Rugby Premiership hits the halfway mark and a long winter break. This week is also the last week before the team takes a break for the Americas Rugby Championship and for NYAC it's the last match of the fall.
NYAC vs. Boston
After Boston's big win over Old Blue in the first week this was looked at as one of the matches to watch and although Boston's big loss to Life last week has taken the shine off it a little bit this match could still have strong implications for who makes the playoffs at the end of the year. Boston currently sit fourth in the standings with four points through two matches while NYAC sit first with 12 points in three matches. A win for Boston would put them in striking distance with a game in hand.
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As mentioned, NYAC are coming into the match off a close result against Old Blue. NYAC led for most of the match before allowing Old Blue to come back. Only a late try rescued the win over NYAC. Justin Hundley is turning into one of the most underrated players in American rugby while Mike Petri is in very strong form. Other contributors like Nate Brakeley, Kyle Granby, Neil McMillan, and Al McFarland have the team off to a good start.
Boston won't be the last team to lose by a big margin to Life. The good news for the side is that throughout the first half it was close. Richie Lobb is the find of the ARP so far and has the Boston office rolling. However, against Life you saw Boston not be able to take up a notch when Life did. That's an experience thing and as some of their younger players on their roster see more time that type of thing won't happen.
Lobb is going to come up against an experienced halfback pairing for the second week in the row while young center Lucas Biastrocchi will also come up against a tough opponent. The forwards should be a good challenge with each team having players that are more than capable of bruising their opponents.
If you look at the two matches the teams have played against Life and Old Blue you see very mixed results. NYAC held Life close and then beat Old Blue close. On the flip side Boston lost to Life big but beat Old Blue by a good margin. Using that head to head it's hard to say who has the definitive edge. At the moment it looks like NYAC will be the favorite but Boston showed a lot of positives in their two matches and a win against NYAC would be a huge boost to their season.
Life vs. Boston Irish Wolfhounds
As you would predict from a match between a team to pick up all their bonus points so far and a team without a point Life will probably win this match handily. However, they are returning home from two weekends away and may have the tendency to look at the opponent and relax. Meanwhile, the Wolfhounds had the weekend off to get healthy, re-group, and work on the things that they have done well. They've shown flashes in their two matches and could surprise Life. However, the reality is that if they can hang in with Life for a half it would be a moral victory.
A live stream of this match will be available at 1:15 p.m. et/10:15 a.m. pt on the Life website (or click here)
