GRR: Arkansas State
Life University’s men’s team kicks off its 2021 rugby season and of course there are all kinds of questions to answer.
The team that won the D1A National Championship in 2018 and 2019 is rebuilding a little bit.
“We’ve had a bit of a changing of the guard,” said Head Coach Colton Cariaga. “We have some new faces, but we also have some good leadership.”
Arkansas State and Lindenwood have named their matchday 23s for the first major college clash of 2021.
The two will face off in a Mid-South Conference game Saturday in Jonesboro, Ark. Lindenwood will run out two first-time players on the starting 15 (Stephin Alberts and Shiven Dukande) plus four more on the bench.
There is going to be a major college rugby game this weekend.
That in and of itself is news, but the matchup is newsworthy for other reasons.
This is a conference game, the first one in almost 11 months. The teams involved, Lindenwood and Arkansas State, were ranked in the Top Ten of the D1A rankings (and also in GRR’s own ranking, which contributes to D1A’s Top 20).
Blake White's departure from Arkansas State and move to University of Memphis was a bit of a surprise, but perhaps the additional surprise was that one wasn't naturally going to follow the other.
In a major move in college rugby, the University of Memphis has signed former Arkansas State University Head Coach Blake White to be the Tigers' new Head Coach.
White was named Head Coach for Arkansas State in August of 2017 on an interim basis before being made the long-term head guy. He lead the Red Wolves for three seasons before stepping down this summer.