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The Houston SaberCats have confirmed the names of seven returning forwards for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. Props Jamie Dever and Charlie Connolly, hooker Gabe Romero, flankers Luke Beauchamp and Cecil Garber, and second row trio Charlie Hewitt, Victor Comptat, and Diego Magno.
Dever and Connolly have been spending part of their off-season playing for Canterbury in England’s third division – National One – though curiously there is no mention of Robert Meeson, the veteran lock who was also with them in England. This will be the third season for Dever with Houston though he was a late arrival in 2018, and the second for Connolly. Romero, a Junior All-American in 2015, signed ahead of 2018 but missed the entire season due to injury.
Also returning after knee surgery is Hewitt, an England u18 cap. The 6’7″ (2.01m) giant qualifies for the USA on residency in October. He will partner 6’8″ (2.04m) Comptat, a pairing rivaled only by San Diego’s Siaosi Mahoni and Ben Mitchell for sheer size. Magno is Houston’s only remaining Uruguayan after the departures of Mateo Sanguinetti, Alejandro Nieto, and Santiago Arata to Peñarol of the new South American league. He covers both lock and loose forward.
Houston’s back row stocks as they stand remain thin with probable starters Beauchamp and Garber joined by utility Kyle Breytenbach. There is no sign of Ayron Schramm, Chris Parker, or Chris Coyle, while Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz has moved to Old Glory DC. While the SaberCats backline is well stocked, the forwards are still a few bodies short with preseason already underway.
