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After a week on the road the Houston SaberCats return to the friendly confines of Constellation Field for a clash with the high-flying NOLA Gold on Saturday. The SaberCats have dropped four straight since their one-point win over Austin in the opening week while the Gold have lost just once, their three-point loss to New York in Week 4.
Most of the Gold were enjoyed a rest last weekend, the exceptions being four international forwards returning from the Americas Rugby Championship. Hubert Buydens, Ignacio Dotti, Kyle Baillie, and Cam Dolan all start in a powerhouse forward pack absent only Tony Lamborn. The Eagles flanker has returned to New Zealand to deal with a personal matter, his return date as of yet undetermined.
The only change in the backs sees Tim Maupin return from injury on the right wing, with Tristan Blewett moving in one spot to outside center. Taylor Howden moves to the bench where is joined by another injury returnee in Nikola Bursic. The Chilean international started every game for the Gold last season but has yet to play in 2019.
Houston have made three changes to the starting side that lost in Seattle. Diego Magno gets his first Major League Rugby start in the second row with his Uruguay teammate Santiago Arata returning at scrumhalf for his first outing since the opening week. Kelly Kolberg starts in the absence of regular right winger Malacchi Esdale.
The numbers don’t look good for the SaberCats. New Orleans have scored double the amount of points in the same number of games and are effectively at full strength. Aside from Esdale, Houston are also missing key forwards Mateo Sanguinetti, Paul Mullen, and Charlie Hewitt. Expect the Gold to leave Sugar Land with a handsome victory.
Kickoff is set for 7pm local, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. A local broadcast will be available in Houston on KUBE57, with a live stream option on the MLR Facebook page.
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jamie Dever, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Charlie Connolly, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.), 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Kelly Kolberg, 12 Conor Mills, 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Josua Vici, 15 Zach Pangelinan
Replacements: 16 Amro Gouda, 17 Jake Turnbull, 18 Matt Almeida, 19 Robert Meeson, 20 Chris Parker, 21 Chris Coyle, 22 Connor Murphy, 23 Max Tacket
NEW ORLEANS GOLD
1 Hubert Buydens, 2 Eric Howard (capt.), 3 Ben Tarr, 4 Kane Thompson, 5 Ignacio Dotti, 6 Kyle Baillie, 7 Zack Stryffeler, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Holden Yungert, 10 Scott Gale, 11 Nick Feakes, 12 Con Foley, 13 Tristan Blewett, 14 Tim Maupin, 15 JP Eloff
Replacements: 16 Matt Harmon, 17 Cam Falcon, 18 Kevin Sullivan, 19 Nikola Bursic, 20 Moni Tonga’uiha, 21 John Sullivan, 22 Taylor Howden, 23 Joeli Tikoisuva
Date: Saturday, March 16
Venue: Constellation Field, Sugar Land
Kickoff: 19:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 20:00 Eastern)
Referee: Ben Crouse (SARU)
Assistants: Steve Fenaroli (USAR) & Kat Roche (USAR)
Broadcasts: Facebook, KUBE57
