SaberCats roar past Raptors in MLR season opener

First blood in the 2020 Major League Rugby season has gone to the Houston SaberCats. Their dominant set piece laid the foundation for a strong 21-12 win over the Colorado Raptors at the AVEVA Stadium in Houston in Saturday’s season opener.

Sam Windsor collected the first points of the year with a routine penalty kick in the 7th minute. Colorado came painfully close to responding with a try but Robbie Petzer was knocked into touch-in-goal before he could ground the ball.

Instead it was the SaberCats who notched the first five-pointer. Houston’s scrum set the platform and a lovely passing sequence between midfielder Matías Freyre and Tiaan Loots ended with Windsor sliding over to Colorado’s disgust.

The Raptors finally found their groove near the half-hour mark and it was bruising left wing John Ryberg who provided the decisive thrust. Last season’s league-leading try scorer game over to the right side looking for work and took an inside pass from Chad London, crashing through Zach Pangelinan’s desperation tackle for the score.

Houston’s scrum continued to dominate and the pressure landed Brendan Daly in the bin for a cynical infringement in a scoring position. The 5-meter shove was slowed but Adriaan Booysen tore off the back and muscled over in the corner for a second SaberCats try on the stroke of halftime.

Colorado regrouped at the break and when Daly returned the pack drove ahead through the maul. It was stopped short illegally but Tomás Quinlan couldn’t curl the penalty attempt in from the left side to let the SaberCats off the hook.

Windsor’s radar was also off soon after as he pushed a penalty wide right, his third miss of the day. The Raptors brought in fresh legs in Ata Malifa and Rene Ranger but the SaberCats would score next. De Wet Roos stuck a cheeky kick in behind Mika Kruse and Malacchi Esdale won the race for the touchdown.

With the clock ticking down Colorado finally created a second score through phase play. Malifa’s dummy line sucked in two defenders and left a gap just wide enough for Kelepi Fifita to barge over with Robbie Petzer adding the extras to make it a one-score game.

Injuries hit both sides in the 77th minute as Osea Kolinisau needed heavy strapping on a knee and Petzer headed to the sidelines in some discomfort. With no backline subs remaining the Raptors were forced to move Sam Slade into the midfield as Jay Finau came into the front row.

The SaberCats smelled blood and kept the pressure on until Colorado’s discipline broke down. Windsor made up for his earlier misses with a well-stuck penalty from 40 meters to push the score beyond the Raptors’ reach.

Both teams will pack their bags for Las Vegas next weekend. Houston will face the Toronto Arrows on Sunday with Colorado set to clash with the San Diego Legion at the same venue just a couple hours later.

SCORING

HOUSTON 21
Tries – S. Windsor (19’), A. Booysen (40’), M. Esdale (64′)
Cons – S. Windsor 0/3
Pens – S. Windsor 2/2 (7’, 78′)

COLORADO 12
Tries – J. Ryberg (29’), K. Fifita (72′)
Cons – T. Quinlan 0/1, R. Petzer 1/1 (73′)
Pens – T. Quinlan 0/1
Yellow cards – B. Daly (39’)

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Valdemar Lee-Lo (18 Nicolás Solveyra 52′), 2 Diego Fortuny, 3 Charlie Connolly (17 Boyd Wiggins 48′), 4 Kyle Breytenbach, 5 Victor Comptat (20 Luke Beauchamp 56′), 6 Cecil Garber, 7 Diego Magno, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 De Wet Roos (capt.), 10 Sam Windsor, 11 Malacchi Esdale, 12 Tiaan Loots (21 Taylor Howden 56′), 13 Matías Freyre, 14 Zach Pangelinan (23 Kieran Farmer 71′), 15 Osea Kolinisau

Not used: 16 CJ Burke, 19 Robert Meeson, 22 Jake Christmann

COLORADO RAPTORS
1 Zak Taulafo (16 Kelepi Fifita 58′), 2 Chad Gough, 3 Marco Fepulea’i, 4 Michael Curry (19 Kody O’Neil 58′), 5 Luke White (capt.), 6 Brendan Daly, 7 Mike Stewart (20 Connor Cook 67′), 8 Sam Slade, 9 Carlo de Nysschen (23 Nick Boyer 67′), 10 Tomás Quinlan (21 Ata Malifa 56′), 11 John Ryberg, 12 Robbie Petzer (18 Jay Finau 77′), 13 Chad London (22 Rene Ranger 56′), 14 Mika Kruse, 15 Mason Emerson

Not used: 17 Xendy Tatibouët

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Joey Swatzell (USA) & Greg Varnell (USA)