Houston wins again as Glendale’s season ends

Make it three wins in a row for Houston. The SaberCats showed they had more left in the tank than the Raptors as they came away 32-17 winners at AVEVA Stadium in their rescheduled fixture on Wednesday night. With that Glendale’s season comes to a close on three straight defeats, a disappointing end for the 2018 Finalists.

An early penalty from Sam Windsor sailed over for the home side but it was the visitors who notched the first try. As we have seen on several occasions this season, a back-handed pass from Dylan Taikato-Simpson bamboozled the defense and left Harley Davidson wide open on the right side for an easy finish.

The SaberCats wasted to time in offering a reply. A loopy lineout throw was gathered by Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz and Jamie Dever took the line straight on. Despite attracting four defenders, the prop kept driving ahead with a little help from two teammates with the end result a try.

Houston were reduced by a man when Victor Comptat cynically kicked the ball out of a ruck, but it was SaberCats who scored next rather than Glendale. Despite missing their biggest second row and calling in a winger to the flank, the Houston scrum smashed their opponents backwards and Windsor attacked, regathering his own chip ahead. Josua Vici was on his shoulder to take the pass and the electric Fijian did the rest, shaking off one and fending two more on a 40-meter run under the sticks.

It was Windsor himself who got the touchdown just before halftime. Connor Murphy spotted space in behind the Raptors defensive line and his chip over the top was gathered in-goal by his flyhalf. The routine conversion made it 24-5 to the SaberCats at the break.

A second Windsor penalty extended the lead before Glendale were offered some hope. Will Magie’s cross kick bounced awkwardly and Taikato-Simpson just managed to ground the ball before it crossed the dead ball line. Davidson scorched around the outside next, weaving back inside to beat the cover to reduce the gap to 10 points.

All momentum was lost in the blink of an eye. Zach Pangelinan’s no-look pass found Vici in space. After beating three players himself he returned the favor to Windsor with the flyhalf diving over for the killer blow. That would bring a close to the scoring as the two exhausted sides scraped to the final whistle.

While the Raptors will now turn their eye firmly to the 2020 season, the SaberCats still have one more contest to complete. They’ll hit the road for Salt Lake on Saturday for a match against the Utah Warriors. There will be no effect on the playoff situation, but a chance to close out the season on four wins is a fine prize for this revitalized Houston outfit.

SCORING

HOUSTON 32
Tries – J. Dever (15’), J. Vici (22’), S. Windsor 2 (36’, 65’)
Cons – S. Windsor 3/4 (16’, 23’, 37’)
Pens – S. Windsor 2/3 (3’, 46’)
Yellow cards – V. Comptat (20’)

GLENDALE 17
Tries – H. Davidson 2 (11’, 63’), D. Taikato-Simpson (56’)
Cons – R. Petzer 0/1, W. Magie 1/2 (64’)

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Jamie Dever (18 Jake Turnbull 57’), 2 Pat O’Toole (16 Amro Gouda 57’), 3 Charlie Connolly (17 Paul Mullen 50’-73’, 75’), 4 Diego Magno (19 Robert Meeson 58’), 5 Victor Comptat (20 Luke Beauchamp 50’), 6 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz, 7 Cecil Garber, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Connor Murphy (23 Kelly Kolberg 73’), 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Deion Mikesell, 12 Thretton Palamo (capt.) (21 Zach Pangelinan HT), 13 Josua Vici, 14 Malacchi Esdale, 15 Osea Kolinisau

Not used: 22 Chris Coyle

GLENDALE RAPTORS
1 Blake Rogers (17 Max Lum 61’), 2 Zach Fenoglio (16 Chad Gough 61’), 3 Noah Barker, 4 Brendan Daly (19 Will Munro 61’), 5 Luke White (18 Kody O’Neil 61’), 6 Jason Damm (20 Connor Cook 50’), 7 Malon Al-Jiboori, 8 Murphy Taramai, 9 Shaun Davies (capt.) (21 Carlo de Nysschen 61’), 10 Ata Malifa (22 Will Magie 47’), 11 Harley Davidson, 12 Robbie Petzer (23 Campbell Johnstone 47’), 13 Chad London, 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Dylan Taikato-Simpson

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Derek Summers (USAR)
Assistants: Scott Green (USAR) & Jake Still (USAR)

Attendance: 1,811