Life sit just one win away from claiming the American Rugby Premiership title. Thanks to their 4-0 fall season all the Running Eagles need to do is beat NYAC this weekend in Marietta and they will have a spot booked in the PRP-ARP Challenge match this summer with the rest of their spring season still to play. Life won't technically seal up the title this week as in theory they could lose the rest of their three matches but for all intents and purposes if they beat NYAC they will have a ten point lead with only three matches to play with one of those coming against the Wolfhounds.
To say that Life were dominant in the fall might be a bit of an understatement. Aside from their close 32-29 loss to NYAC in week two Life gave up a total of 29 points in their other three matches while scoring 172. If they can manage even half of that output the rest of the way there is no reason they can't go undefeated.
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Life are led by one of the best players in the country in AJ MacGinty. The fly-half was easily the top player in the ARP in the fall and now that he has been in the country three years is on the radar of the Eagles. That could actually come back to hurt Life in the spring as MacGinty will be away with the Eagles in South America for at least two matches (against Boston and Old Blue if not three). Also missing on Eagles duty will be Colton Cariaga, and Phil Thiel.
Life have the depth to replace those players but another major question surrounding Life this spring is how available some of their college players will be. If the Life college team makes a deep run in the DI-A playoffs as expected they may not be able to supplement their team with players like Jack Anderson, Harley Davidson, Blane McIlroy, and Hiko Malu.
One of Life's greatest assets is their balance between the forwards and the backs. They have arguably the best forward pack in the competition and the halfback pairing of MacGinty and Shaun Davies is right up there as well. Throw in backs like Cornelius Dirksen and Life have plenty of weapons to beat teams.
If Life can beat NYAC this weekend look for them to run the table the rest of the way, even with players missing to Eagles duty and college matches.
Players Added: Nicholas Butterworth
Players to Watch: Colton Cariaga, David Gannon, AJ MacGinty, Shaun Davies, Phil Thiel, Demecus Beach
Schedule
April 11th: vs. NYAC
April 18th: @Boston Irish Wolfhounds
April 25th: vs. Boston
May 2nd: @Old Blue