Field day for Legion as SaberCats skewered

The San Diego Legion put a sound beating on the Houston SaberCats at Dyer Stadium on Sunday evening. Shaky defense and a litany of errors from the home side saw the visitors score 6 tries in the first hour en route to a 40-19 score.

A hole the size of Texas in the SaberCats midfield let Dylan Audsley casually through untouched from inside the Legion’s half. Audsley then split the converging cover defense and found Mike Te’o on his left to finish off the sprinting exercise.

Houston’s scrum, at the very least, was enjoying their day with solid ground beneath their feet. Sam Windsor’s penalty attempt rang off the crossbar but they would get another put-in immediately after. This time the ball went wide and Deion Mikesell showed good strength to shake off three would-be tacklers and touch down over the line.

Within moments the score was erased. Windsor’s pass was picked off by Joe Pietersen and the Legion’s captain was in under the sticks, easy as you like.

Two tries came in rapid succession to end the first half. The first was a sensational individual effort from Nate Augspurger. Connor Murphy jumped the gun and left open air for his opposite. Augspurger stepped on the accelerator and then stepped Zach Pangelinan to finish a 70 meter score.

The bonus point came against the run of play. With Houston pressing, Pietersen picked off another loose pass from Windsor. One quick recycle later and Te’o was screaming through a gap. He offloaded to Augspurger, who sucked in two and backhanded the ball to Nick Boyer for the try.

A cynical late hit from Mateo Sanguinetti on Joe Pietersen sent the Houston prop to the sin bin and San Diego’s captain to the sidelines. From a lineout the bell went wide and Audsley again skipped through the line with ease, with Nick Lupian on hand to take the offload in for the try.

There was no respite for the SaberCats. Windsor’s restart went out on the full, and the Legion won a penalty at the scrum. The attack came in waves with Augspurger almost bouncing through. It was Keni Nasoqeqe’s pirouette that proved the coup de grace. At 40-7 it was job done for San Diego.

With the Legion now just going through the motions, Houston had time for two consolation scores. Thretton Palamo bashed his way over for the first just after the hour mark. A Malacchi Esdale line break set up a wide ball for Charlie Connolly to score, the burly prop loitering on the wing. Time would elapse before a bonus point could be claimed.

San Diego step up to first overall, the first team to crack nine wins on the season. They head to Toronto where a confident Arrows team awaits on Sunday. Houston will also play on Sunday, just a short flight away in New York.

SCORING

HOUSTON 19
Tries – D. Mikesell (20’), T. Palamo (61′), C. Connolly (71′)
Cons – S. Windsor 2/3 (21’, 62′)
Pens – S. Windsor 0/1
Yellow cards – M. Sanguinetti (50′)

SAN DIEGO 40
Tries – M. Te’o (6’), J. Pietersen (24’), N. Augspurger (37’), N. Boyer (40’), N. Lupian (52′), K. Nasoqeqe (56′)
Cons – J. Pietersen 4/4 (7’, 25’, 38’, 40’), D. Audsley 1/1 (53′), T. Enosa 0/1
Pens – N. Boyer 0/1

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Jamie Dever 60′), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Amro Gouda 72′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Charlie Connolly 50′), 4 Diego Magno, 5 Matt Trouville (capt.) (19 Victor Comptat 57′), 6 Luke Beauchamp, 7 Cecil Garber (21 Alejandro Nieto 50′), 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz (20 Chris Coyle 72′), 9 Connor Murphy, 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Malacchi Esdale, 12 Thretton Palamo, 13 Osea Kolinisau (22 Max Tacket 60′ {23 Joe Kelly 75}), 14 Deion Mikesell, 15 Zach Pangelinan (17 Jamie Dever 54′-60′)

SAN DIEGO LEGION
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti (17 Nathan Sylvia HT), 2 Pat Blair (16 Sione Tu’ihalamaka 57′), 3 Paddy Ryan (18 Aaron Mitchell 55′), 4 Louis Stanfill, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Jasa Veremalua, 7 Psalm Wooching (19 Devin Short 53′), 8 Jordan Manihera (20 Drew Gaffney 53′), 9 Nate Augspurger, 10 Joe Pietersen (capt.) (21 Tai Enosa 50′), 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 JP du Plessis (22 Nick Lupian 43′), 13 Dylan Audsley (23 Kyle Rogers 55′), 14 Nick Boyer, 15 Mike Te’o

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Rogan (USAR)
Assistants: Lex Weiner (USAR) & Greg Varnell (USAR)