Houston SaberCats fortress withstands Seattle Seawolves

The Houston SaberCats were 21-19 winners this evening over the Seattle Seawolves. The victory saw the Texans ending their losing streak to claim an important win. With it the teams trade positions in the MLR Western Conference.

A tense opening half saw the teams asked tough questions of each other. Ferocious defense was on display from both teams with it being breached only once by each team during the opening half.

Houston were the first to score. Patience rewarded the SaberCats as raids of play were polished off with a Siaosi Mahoni try from a short-range pick-and-go. With David Coetzer’s conversion, the home side were 7-0 up after twelve minutes.

Seattle’s response came 30 minutes later. In between the tries AJ Alatimu missed a penalty for the Seawolves and Juan Pablo Zeiss had a disallowed try in the 34th minute.

Seattle’s score took time but it did come. It came following a maul from a 5 meter attacking lineout. The drive resulted in Houston defenders being sucked in while quick play saw the ball spun wide. Ross Neal capitalized to touch the ball down in the try zone. Houston remained in front at half-time as Alatimu misjudged his conversion attempt.

Houston’s lead was retained until late in the third quarter. It ended with sustained forward pressure resulting in a try to Martin Iosefo. Alatimu landed the sideline conversion to give the Seawolves a 12-5 lead.

The try rounded off what had been a fifteen minute period of Seattle domination. Houston needed to recover smartly and fight back with points. Coetzer looked to do so by sneaking in a long-range drop-goal. His effort was wide.

Minutes later Seattle seemed to be en route to their third try. It was not to be as Danny Barrett plucked the ball from from out of nowhere and ran 80 meters. He had the speed to go all the way but opted for the safer option of passing to Dillon Smit who scored under the posts.

The score appeared to mentally drain the Seawolves. Tired legs factored in as Houston were able to extend their lead to go into a winning position. Try number three came following a break from fullback Robbie Povey. Phases followed with Gideon van Wyk touching down.

JP Smith darted over two minutes from full time. His score gave Seattle a late chance of a win. However, with the kick off deep into Seattle territory, the SaberCats fortress was able to withstand the Seawolves.

SCORING

HOUSTON 21
Tries – S. Mahoni (12′), D. Smit (58′), G. van Wyk (70′)
Cons – D. Coetzer 1/1 (13′), No kick (58′), R. Povey 1/1 (71′)
DG – D. Coetzer 0/1

SEATTLE 19
Tries – R. Neal (40’+2′), M. Iosefo (51′), J. Smith (78′)
Cons – A. Alatimu 1/2 (52′), J. Smith 1/1 (78′)
Pens – A. Alatimu 0/1

TEAMS

HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra (17 Frikkie de Beer 59′), 2 Dean Muir (capt.) (16 Diego Fortuny 71′), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss (18 Pono Davis 53′), 4 Siaosi Mahoni (23 Emmanuel Albert 59′), 5 Keni Nasoqeqe (20 Will Crawford 74′), 6 Danny Barrett, 7 Malon Al-Jiboori (19 Gideon van Wyk 68′), 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer (21 Zach Pangelinan 66′), 11 Marcos Moroni, 12 Matai Leuta, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Jax Hidalgo (22 Nick Boyer 66′), 15 Robbie Povey

SEATTLE SEAWOLVES
1 Mzamo Majola (17 Dewald Donald 71′), 2 James Malcolm, 3 Tim Metcher (18 Taniela Tupou 36′-HT, 64′), 4 Brad Tucker (19 Samu Manoa 43′), 5 Rhyno Herbst (20 Victor Comptat 74′), 6 Ben Landry (22 Travis Larsen 59′), 7 Nakai Penny, 8 Riekert Hattingh (capt.), 9 JP Smith, 10 AJ Alatimu (21 Reid Watkins 73′), 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Dan Kriel, 14 Ross Neal, 15 Duncan Matthews (23 Lauina Futi 58′)

Not used: 16 Mike Brown

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Scott Green (USA)
Assistants: Cole Jones (USA) & Brian Dusablon (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)