After a long winter Davenport finally gets to play a Mid-South Conference game, and will start off the so-called spring season at Life University.

The Running Eagles host the Panthers at 1pm ET in Marietta, Ga. and this game will be live on FloRugby.

Life is coming off a 22-18 defeat of Lindenwood in which Duncan van Schalkwyk, the team’s flyhalf, kicked a conversion and five penalty goals, and put in a huge performance in other areas of the game.

“Duncan was clutch for us,” said head coach Colton Cariaga. “The week before he had a tough game kicking, and he put in the work and produced a really improved performance. Defensive he had an awesome game.”

Cariaga said he was pleased to see his team show some guts and determination to keep Lindenwood out of the try zone. Of course, they also gave up penalties, and the coach acknowledges that he needs the Running Eagles to avoid that.

“We put ourselves under pressure, but we were pretty effective at disrupting things and we maintained our physicality,” said Cariaga. “We will have to do that against Davenport.”

Davenport played two conference games in the fall (to avoid having to play the first half of the season on the road) and split games with Clemson (a win) and Arkansas State (a loss). The Panthers are physical up front with some excellent forwards including front-rower Drew Boatright, and loose forward Thomas Chelsea. They’ve moved flyhalf Noah Zomberg to scrumhalf, and put Brady Erlich, who had been a fullback, in at flyhalf.

But aside from those changes, expect coach Harry King’s team to be unimpressed with Life’s reputation. Already Davenport has played some impressive D1A and D1AA teams (all in the fall), and the team is no stranger to stressful games.

“They are a tough, Midwestern team,” said Cariaga. “They have good ballcarriers, are tough up front, and have players with skill.”

Life does too.