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The second half of the season for the Houston SaberCats officially begins on Saturday. As the page turns so begins a new chapter for the SaberCats, with the first page to be written in their permanent home – the AVEVA Stadium. Given the honor of providing opposition on the historic occasion are the Seattle Seawolves, appropriately the defending Major League Rugby champions whose ambitions to repeat rely on spoiling the party for the home side.
Houston are 21 points out of a playoff spot and realistically are laying the foundations on the freshly confirmed 2020 season at this point. Creating a fortress environment at their new stomping grounds will be a priority. To do so they’ll need to raise their standards considerably, or at the very least find consistency. For 32 minutes against Glendale they looked unbeatable, easily their best rugby of the year. After that, however, was a complete disaster.
Justin Fitzpatrick has nonetheless backed his side to come up with the goods – for real – against Seattle. Only one change is made to the starting lineup with new signing Deion Mikesell set to make his run-on debut after a try-scoring second half against the Raptors.
The bench is really where it gets interesting for the SaberCats. Starting Eagles prop Paul Mullen returns from injury to make his first appearance of the season, and there are two newcomers set to be unleashed in loose forward Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz and midfielder Thretton Palamo. The latter has been out of action for some 18 months and will be eased into it but Houston fans will be desperately hoping he finds his feet again in double quick fashion.
Seattle have won five of their last six including two games on the road. They overcame a ponderous start against Utah to close out the game in the second half, and their inability to come out of the gates firing has been a consistent pattern this season. Against a fired-up Houston side who exploded against Glendale last week, the Seawolves cannot afford to be complacent in the opening quarter.
In similar fashion head coach Richie Walker has made only two changes to the starting lineup. Api Naikatini made an impact off the bench against Utah and the big Fijian lock returns to the run-on side for the first time in a month. Brad Tucker moves to the blindside flank with Cam Polson dropping out. Scottish prop Ryan Youngman has been drafted in from the Seattle Saracens and is set to make his debut as a replacement.
The only change in the backs sees one big lump replacing another as Canada’s George Barton takes over the No13 shirt from Joey Iosefa. Fans will have to wait patiently for a Barton-Palamo collision though it may not come at all with Roland Suniula awaiting his opportunity to make an impact from the bench.
An interesting battle will take place in the scrum. In 2018 it was Seattle who rolled the opposition but in 2019 Houston are pressing their claim for top spot. Their demolition job against Glendale, while perhaps predictable, was nonetheless brutal in its execution and a platform they will certainly look to exploit against the slightly vulnerable Seawolves, particularly without regular impact players Olive Kilifi and John Hayden. Damp weather is on the horizon potentially making the set piece even more significant.
Outside the scrum, however, the advantage tilts strongly towards Seattle. Naikatini, Tucker, and Riekert Hattingh are all superior lineout jumpers to anyone in Houston’s pack and all are offloading threats with ball in hand. Phil Mack is a steadying influence in the No9 shirt and the midfield of Barton and Shalom Suniula is more convincing than their opposites. Seattle’s are simply a more confidence and cohesive unit. Look for them to take the win though Houston will be no pushovers.
Kickoff is set for 5pm local time, 3pm Pacific, 6pm Eastern. Local broadcasts will be aired on KUBE57 in Houston and Root Sports in Seattle. A live stream will also be available on the official MLR Facebook page.
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Pat O’Toole, 3 Charlie Connolly, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.), 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Connor Murphy, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Malacchi Esdale, 12 Max Tacket, 13 Osea Kolinisau, 14 Deion Mikesell, 15 Zach Pangelinan
Replacements: 16 Amro Gouda, 17 Jamie Dever, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Victor Comptat, 20 Robert Meeson, 21 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 22 Thretton Palamo, 23 Joe Kelly
SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Kellen Gordon, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 3 Tim Metcher, 4 Jérémy Lenaerts, 5 Apisai Naikatini, 6 Brad Tucker, 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh, 9 Phil Mack, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Sequoyah Burke-Combs, 12 Shalom Suniula (capt.), 13 George Barton, 14 Brock Staller, 15 Mat Turner
Replacements: 16 Dan Trierweiler, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Ryan Youngman, 19 Taylor Krumrei, 20 Eric Duechle, 21 JP Smith, 22 Roland Suniula, 23 Dion Crowder
Date: Saturday, April 13
Venue: AVEVA Stadium, Houston
Kickoff: 17:00 local (15:00 Pacific, 18:00 Eastern)
Referee: Derek Summers (USAR)
Assistants: Luke Rogan (USAR) & Greg Varnell (USAR)
Broadcasts: Facebook, KUBE57, Root Sports
