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The midpoint of the Major League Rugby season will officially be reached at the conclusion of Sunday’s Texas Cup match between the Austin Gilgronis and the Houston SaberCats. Austin have won the last three meetings between the two sides and the overall series is now tied at three games apiece.
After a tremendous 5-0 run to start the campaign the AG’s have cooled with back-to-back losses heading into last week’s bye. Sam Harris has made four changes to the starting lineup and has an extra international player slot to bolster the match day squad after a trade with Dallas earlier in the week.
Mason Pedersen comes in at tighthead prop in place of the injured Namatahi Waa, and Sebastian de Chaves gets his first start of the season alongside second row mate Isaac Ross. It’s a back row remix as Locky McCaffrey wears No6 for the first time, Maclean Jones gets his first start of 2022 at No7, and Michael de Waal shifts to No8.
Julián Domínguez returns on the wing in the only personnel change to the backline. Zinzan Elan-Puttick moves across to the right wing in place of Conner Mooneyham. Pele Cowley is set for his first appearance since Round 2, and Casey McDermott Vai his first since the opening week. The latter adds extra loose forward power on a bench that shows a 6-2 split.
The SaberCats have posted back-to-back wins including a statement performance on the road against Utah. Pote Human has rewarded his charges with a near-identical lineup that shows only one change to the starting side, and two on the bench.
Malon Al-Jiboori is ruled out with injury suffered against the Warriors, opening the door for Willie Britz to return on the blindside flank. His bench spot goes to Will Crawford, one of two lock reserve options along with Emmanuel Albert. Aaron Mitchell is a straight swap for Pono Davis as backup tighthead prop.
It’s going to be a hot evening in Texas which should see plenty of replacements entering the game at the hour mark, if not earlier. On form the SaberCats have the advantage though the AG’s have had their number in recent meetings. Expect this to be a bruising encounter with the two sides evenly matched on paper. Home advantage gives Austin the very loose favorites tag.
Kickoff is set for 6pm local time, 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern. Fox Sports 2 will broadcast nationwide with The Rugby Network streaming to viewers located abroad.
AUSTIN GILGRONIS
1 Faka’osi Pifeleti, 2 Hugh Roach, 3 Mason Pedersen, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 5 Isaac Ross, 6 Locky McCaffrey, 7 Maclean Jones, 8 Michael de Waal, 9 Ryan Louwrens, 10 Mack Mason, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Bryce Campbell (capt.), 13 Mark O’Keeffe, 14 Zinzan Elan-Puttick, 15 Marcel Brache
Replacements: 16 Mason Koch, 17 Jake Turnbull, 18 LaRome White, 19 Cam Dodson, 20 Christian Ostberg, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 Will Magie, 23 Casey McDermott Vai
HOUSTON SABERCATS
1 Nicolás Solveyra, 2 Dean Muir (capt.), 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Siaosi Mahoni, 5 Keni Nasoqeqe, 6 Danny Barrett, 7 Willie Britz, 8 Jaco Bezuidenhout, 9 Dillon Smit, 10 David Coetzer, 11 Gerrie Labuschagne, 12 Matai Leuta, 13 Christian Dyer, 14 Kisi Unufe, 15 Robbie Povey
Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Frikkie de Beer, 18 Aaron Mitchell, 19 Gideon van Wyk, 20 Will Crawford, 21 Zach Pangelinan, 22 Nick Boyer, 23 Emmanuel Albert
Date: Sunday, April 3
Venue: Bold Stadium, Austin
Kickoff: 18:00 local (16:00 Pacific, 19:00 Eastern)
Referee: Mike Lash (New Zealand)
Assistants: Joey Swatzell (USA) & Andrew Low (USA)
TMO: Derek Summers (USA)
Broadcasts: Fox Sports 2, The Rugby Network
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-06-05 – Houston SaberCats 9, Austin Gilgronis 28 (AVEVA Stadium)
2021-04-03 – Austin Gilgronis 26, Houston SaberCats 0 (Bold Stadium)
2020-03-07 – Houston SaberCats 20, Austin Gilgronis 24 (AVEVA Stadium)
2019-05-25 – Houston SaberCats 36, Austin Elite 15 (AVEVA Stadium)
2019-01-26 – Austin Elite 20, Houston SaberCats 21 (Dell Diamond)
2018-04-28 – Houston SaberCats 50, Austin Elite 38 (Dyer Stadium)
