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Rugby ATL recovered from a shocking start to the game to score a 29-22 win over the Houston SaberCats at Silverbacks Park on Saturday. A four-try blitz in the first half was just enough as the Ratlers held out a late charge by their guests to secure the bonus-point victory.
Dillon Smit couldn’t believe his luck as the SaberCats scrumhalf batted and regathered a pass from Kurt Coleman to score just 13 seconds into the game. David Coetzer had the simplest of conversions and added a penalty soon after to give the visitors an early 10-nil lead.
The scrum provided the platform to get ATL back into the game. A penalty turned into an attacking lineout and after a short sequence of plays captain Matt Heaton crashed over the line for a try. The extra two points were a formality for Joaquín de la Vega Mendía.
A little over two minutes later the Ratlers were in again. Martin Talapusi hit a screaming Marko Janse van Rensburg with a short pass and the hooker cut back through the cover to cross the line. de la Vega Mendía made no mistake with the conversion.
Play was stopped for several minutes when ATL flyhalf Kurt Coleman was knocked cold after putting his head on the wrong side of a tackle. Ryan Nell came into the midfield with de la Vega Mendía moving to the pivot position. When play resumed the Argentine had a shot at three points but the flags stayed down.
The ATL pack continued to exert their dominance at the set piece. Johan Momsen was the target at a five-meter throw-in and the drive was unstoppable with Janse van Rensburg getting the credit for his second try. de la Vega Mendía redeemed his penalty miss with a third successful conversion.
Houston were driven off the ball on their own put-in at the half-hour mark and Pote Human had seen enough. Pono Davis and Malon Al-Jiboori were summoned from the bench to make an early impact but it was to no avail. The relentless Ratlers piled in again from a driving maul and Janse van Rensburg as there to claim his hat trick. de la Vega Mendía pushed the conversion past the uprights but it was now a three-score gap.
The Cats clawed one back on the stroke of halftime. Matai Leuta burst through the middle and then Al-Jiboori made further progress. The ball came quickly to Coetzer who rounded the cover defense while they were still on the retreat. He converted his own to make the score 26-17 at the intermission.
Keni Nasoqeqe was handed a yellow card just seconds after the restart for a shoulder check on de la Vega Mendía. Wynand Grassmann and Dean Muir were forced off, though Muir would later return, and the SaberCats scrum again went to pieces. Shortly after Nasoqeqe returned to the pitch a penalty from de la Vega Mendía stretched the lead to 12 points.
Tiaan Erasmus won a turnover against his former team and Te Rangatira Waitokia tore down the right side. The winger looked for all money to be in but Danny Barrett somehow closed the distance and managed to dislodge the ball before it could be grounded.
Nick Boyer sniped over for a try with just over three minutes to play. It salvaged a losing bonus point for the SaberCats and they would have one last roll of the dice but a knock-on snuffed out a promising attack with time expired.
The Ratlers remain at home next Saturday to take on the high-flying Austin Gilgronis. Houston return home to AVEVA Stadium to host the Seattle Seawolves.
SCORING
ATL 29
Tries – M. Heaton (10′), M. Janse van Rensburg 3 (13′, 26′, 36′)
Cons – J. de la Vega Mendía 3/4 (11′, 14′, 27′)
Pens – J. de la Vega Mendía 1/2 (53′)
HOUSTON 22
Tries – D. Smit (1′), D. Coetzer (40′), N. Boyer (77′)
Cons – D. Coetzer 2/2 (2′, 40′), R. Povey 0/1
Pens – D. Coetzer 1/1 (5′)
YC – K. Nasoqeqe (41′)
TEAMS
RUGBY ATL
1 Alex Maughan (17 Jonas Petrakopoulos 60′), 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg (16 Tiaan Erasmus 60′), 3 John-Roy Jenkinson (18 John Sullivan HT), 4 Justin Basson (19 Conor Keys 53′), 5 Johan Momsen, 6 Vili Helu, 7 Matt Heaton (capt.), 8 Ross Deacon (20 Daemon Torres 53′), 9 Ryan Rees (21 Eamonn Matthews 73′), 10 Kurt Coleman (23 Ryan Nell 18′), 11 Austin White, 12 Will Leonard, 13 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 14 Te Rangatira Waitokia, 15 Martini Talapusi (22 Nolan Tuamoheloa 56′)
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Frikkie de Beer 60′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.) (16 Patrick Donovan 49′-60′), 3 Aaron Mitchell (18 Pono Davis 32′), 4 Will Crawford (20 Malon Al-Jiboori 32′), 5 Wynand Grassmann (23 Emmanuel Albert 49′), 6 Danny Barrett (19 Gideon van Wyk 66′), 7 Keni Nasoqeqe, 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit (22 Nick Boyer 66′), 10 David Coetzer (21 Robbie Povey 60′), 11 Jax Hidalgo, 12 Matai Leuta, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Kisi Unufe, 15 Marcos Moroni
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistants: Henrique Platais (Brazil) & Cisco Lopez (USA)
TMO: Amelia Luciano (USA)
